Executive Summary
The MIJMA project analyses the migration of young African minors to Europe, approaching it as a complex process involving both social and individual factors. It focuses on the lived experiences of these young people, from the planning of their migration in their countries of origin through to their settlement in their destination countries. By adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the project aims to gain a better understanding of the dynamics of mobility, forms of early empowerment and changes in individual trajectories within a context marked by significant political and social tensions.
Background and issues
The migration of unaccompanied minors is a phenomenon that is both fundamental and difficult to define, from both a scientific and a political perspective. These young people find themselves at the intersection of several areas of public policy – including child protection, migration management and security issues – which fuels recurring debates and often contradictory perceptions.
Although difficult to quantify, international migration involving young people and unaccompanied minors is mainly estimated on the basis of the number of young people taken into care each year in France. These few thousand unaccompanied minors in migration, who are taken into care, come mainly from West African countries. However, these figures are only partial, as some of these young people fall outside the scope of institutional support systems and find themselves in extremely vulnerable situations.
Beyond the figures, what interests us are the migration journeys that form part of long and often fragmented trajectories, involving stops in various transit countries. They raise questions about the circumstances of departure, forms of mobility and the reasons for settling, against a backdrop of highly politicised migration.
Objectives and methodology
The MIJMA project aims to analyse the migration of young African minors as transnational processes, taking into account the diversity of their journeys between countries of origin, transit areas and settlement areas.
It seeks to understand the lived experience of migration and the transformations it brings about. One of its central objectives is to examine migration as both a driver and an indicator of processes of early empowerment. The project thus examines the ways in which «becoming an adult» takes shape within and through migration, from the initial motivations right through to the conditions of settlement.
To this end, the project employs an interdisciplinary qualitative approach combining sociology, geography, anthropology, economics, linguistics, psychopathology and political science. This diversity of perspectives makes it possible to link the individual dimensions of these life trajectories with their social, economic and institutional determinants.
Useful links
Link to the ANR project
Link to the MIJMA hypothesis notebook