Distress Migration Program

About the program

Migration is one of the central moral and governance issues of our time. Conflict, war, violence, natural disasters and a host of other seemingly unstoppable factors have for the whole of human history catalyzed the mass movement and mass displacement of people and particularly children across the world. Over the past decade alone, war, hunger and poverty have displaced more people than at any intervening time since WWII, challenging social, economic and political frameworks. As people move from one region of the globe to another, they transcend borders, cultures and jurisdictions, creating a multi-faceted protection, governance and political challenge unlike any other. With no global framework in place to manage this complex phenomenon, individual countries and governments enact micro level policies with little or no regard for the global context, further exacerbating human suffering and eroding human rights and especially the rights of children. The urgency of advancing quality research to inform thoughtful policy and training the next generation of advocates on these issues could not be greater.

The Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights (FXB Center) has assumed a leadership role in in this endeavor. Building on FXB’s Director of Research Professor Jacqueline Bhabha’s two decades of academic and policy work on issues of distress migration and child migrants, as well as data generated throughout the past 10 years, the FXB Center has established itself as one of, if not the center of excellence in the study and policy development on distress migration. It is widely regarded as a thought leader in the field, with its members engaged in policy making, research and training of students, advocates and practitioners globally. Over the past 10 years, the Distress Migration program at the FXB Center has undertaken primary, pioneer research on key migration and displacement issues, gathering primary data on evolving crises in Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Middle East and South East Asia. The center has generated peer reviewed research, targeted policy briefs and recommendations, and developed a comprehensive and multidisciplinary summer program on migration and refugee studies as part of its pedagogical agenda.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 44/25 on November 20, 1989, serve as a crosscutting framework for our work. Articles of particular relevance to FXB’s Distress Migration Program are:

Graphic with connected puzzle pieces showing which articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) apply to FXB's distress migration work.

Programmatic areas

The Program supports activities in four interrelated areas:


Meet the team

Professor Jacqueline Bhabha describes her journey to advancing child protection


Our work

Ongoing research


Program highlights

Project descriptions include links to relevant reports, where available.


Select publications

Harvard Kennedy School Library virtual book tour

Professor Jacqueline Bhabha describes her book Can We Solve the Migration Crisis? (Polity, 2018) in a virtual book tour courtesy of the Harvard Kennedy School library. Watch below:


Migration op-ed series:

The FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University ran an intensive three-week graduate summer course on migration and refugee studies in Greece in July 2024, in collaboration with the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies and the Refugee and Migration Studies Hub of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. As part of the final assignment of the 2024 course, participating students were invited to write a short op-ed on a migration-related theme. We picked five among the submissions to be published as part of a student opinions series. We hope our FXB community of readers enjoys these thoughtful opinion pieces.


Recent Publications

Solidarity towards distress migrants: how changing frontline communities depend on states to build a new public.” Ruth Rubio Marín, Dorothy Estrada-Tanck, Benedita Menezes Queiroz, Fulvia Staiano (Eds.). Handbook on Migration and Human Rights, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2025, Jacqueline Bhabha, Vasileia Digidiki (Chapter Co-Authors)

The protection chasm: Contemporary child migration and the enduring denial of legal, safe, or regular mobility options.” Susan Bissell, A.K. Shiva Kumar (Eds.). Protecting the World’s Children: Public Health, Human Rights, Capabilities, Oxford University Press, 2025, Vasileia Digidiki and Jacqueline Bhabha (Chapter Co-Authors in book co-edited by Susan Bissell)

Approaching pediatric mental health screening and care in immigration detention, The Lancet Regional Health – Americas, March 3, 2025, Dennis Kunichoff, Margaret M. Sullivan, Vasileia Digidiki (Co-Authors)

Child Migrants in Family Detention in the US: Addressing Fragmented CareChildren, August 5, 2024, Vasileia Digidiki, Dennis Kunichoff (Co-Authors)

Health related quality of life amongst refugees: a meta analysis of studies using the SF-36Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 21 June, 2024, Rita Issa (Co-Author)

Ensuring the Highest Attainable Standard of Health for Children Deprived of their Liberty, Study Contributors: Kelly, T., Campbell A., Young, J., McLeod, K., Bhabha, J., Pearce, L., Southalan, L., Borschmann, R., Ratnam Raman, V., Kinner, S., 2024. Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Justice Health Group at Curtin University, François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University.

Building Inclusion, Sustaining Solidarity Towards Migrants in Frontline Local Communities: The case of Poland during the Ukrainian refugee crisisStudy Contributors: Digidiki, V., Bhabha, J., Markowska-Manista, U. & Dobkowska, J., 2024. FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University, Boston, USA.

Child Migrants in Family Immigration Detention in the US: An Examination of Current Pediatric Care Standards and Practices, Study Contributors: Sridhar, S., Digidiki, V., Kunichoff D., Bhabha, J., Sullivan, M., Gartland, MG., 2024. FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University, Boston and MGH Asylum Clinic at the Center for Global Health.

Webb, J. Molyvos: A Greek Village’s Heroic Response to the Global Refugee Crisis. Potomac Books, 2023 (Vasileia Digidiki quoted, October 1, 2023)

From Evidence to Action: Twenty years of IOM child trafficking data to inform policy and programming, Study Contributors: Digidiki, V., Bhabha J., Connors K., Cook H., Galez-Davis C., Hansen C., Lane M., Laursen S., and Wong L., 2023. FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University, Boston and International Organization for Migration (IOM), Geneva.


Recent Press

The Long-Lasting Trauma of Family Detention Centers (FXB report on child migrants in immigration detention mentioned, TIME, April 30, 2025)

Children’s mental health care lacking in migrant detention centers, study finds (Dennis Kunichoff, Margaret Sullivan, Vasileia Digidiki mentioned, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health News, March 10, 2025)

Global migration course provides an on-the-ground learning experience (Vasileia Digidiki quoted, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Featured News Stories 2024, June 3, 2024)

Migrants Bring Opportunity to Boston and Beyond (Jacqueline Bhabha, Margaret Sullivan interviewed, Epicenter Podcast, May 29, 2024)

Children in detention lack adequate health care, report finds (Jacqueline Bhabha quoted, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health In the News, February 29, 2024)

Global Report Unveils Health Crisis Among Detained Children: Urgent Action Needed (FXB Center report referenced, BNN Breaking, February 29, 2024)

Better quality health care needed for children in detention, says report, (FXB Center report referenced, Medical Xpress, February 14, 2024)

Polish government policies support local solidarity for Ukrainian refugees: report (Vasileia Digidiki, Jacqueline Bhabha quoted, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health In the News, January 30, 2024)

Study finds immigration detention harms children’s mental, physical health (Vasileia Digidiki quoted, The Harvard Gazette, January 22, 2024)

Migrant children in U.S. detention face physical, mental harms: report (Vasileia Digidiki quoted, Jacqueline Bhabha, Dennis Kunichoff, Margaret Sullivan mentioned, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health In the News, January 22, 2024)

Press Release: New Report Finds Immigration Detention Harms Children’s Mental and Physical Health (Vasileia Digidiki quoted, Harvard Global Health Institute Stories, January 11, 2024)

Exploring Health Rights for Migrant Populations: Dr Stefano Angeleri (Stefano Angeleri interviewed, LawPod, November 2, 2023)

Webb, J. Molyvos: A Greek Village’s Heroic Response to the Global Refugee Crisis. Potomac Books, 2023 (Vasileia Digidiki quoted, October 1, 2023)

Child trafficking trends outlined in new report (Vasileia Digidiki quoted, Jacqueline Bhabha mentioned, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health In the News, August 3, 2023)

Over half of child victims trafficked within their own countries (FXB Center for Health & Human Rights mentioned, InfoMigrants, July 7, 2023)

50pc of trafficked children victims of domestic trafficking (FXB Center for Health & Human Rights mentioned, Daily Sun, July 7, 2023)

Child trafficking mostly occurs in country of origin: IOM report (FXB Center for Health & Human Rights mentioned, The Financial Express, July 7, 2023)

From Evidence to Action: Twenty years of IOM child trafficking data to inform policy and programming (FXB Center for Health & Human Rights mentionedReliefWeb, July 6, 2023)

Most child trafficking victims trafficked domestically: Report (FXB Center for Health & Human Rights mentioned, The Business Standard, July 6, 2023)