The Convention on the Rights of the Child is, as you know, the most widely ratified human rights instrument. Only the U.S. has not signed it. Because of that, it actually has enormous power. I think we can use that, because it's not just Canada saying that people should uphold children's rights; it's actually everyone in the world that has agreed to these rights.
In terms of separated children, as you mentioned, there is a distinction between separated children who have maybe been temporarily displaced and are without their families—for example, they were at school when a displacement happened, and then they were displaced from their families—and unaccompanied minors who are actually crossing borders by themselves, sometimes in the company of other young people. They're not necessarily always alone. There are siblings or cousins who sometimes cross borders.
There are specific protection concerns because.... They're under 18, so they're protected by the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The reason they need protection is that there are these power relations with adults who are, in some cases, going to exploit them.
You mentioned gender earlier. It's particularly the women or girls and gender-diverse young people who are at risk of trafficking and sexual exploitation.
In Canada, for example, trafficking is primarily a domestic issue. It primarily happens within and between provinces. It's been shown that in fact women and gender-diverse individuals are much more likely to be trafficked. If they have come into Canada—for example, Ukrainians came to Canada with temporary visas—there is a distinction between the airlines, which designate unaccompanied minors as under 16, and the international legal realm, which designates unaccompanied minors as under the age of 18. We have this protection gap when young Ukrainians arrive in Canada with visas. The airline didn't turn them away, but once they arrived here, there was no systematic programming for them.
The situation of Ukrainians was helpful in the sense that it shed light on the issue. A study was commissioned by the Government of Canada. In fact, all unaccompanied minors face very similar issues. Because of the differences between the provinces, we don't have a systematic way of addressing unaccompanied minors in Canada.
As you mentioned, in the southern hemisphere even more unaccompanied minors are moving to flee violence. Also, in some cases, it's because of economic reasons. If we think of Venezuela, for example, in some cases people are moving to other countries for economic opportunities that are not available to them elsewhere.