- Text size
| 
| 
| 
-
Number of unaccompanied children seeking asylum steady despite wars and forced conscription
News Stories, 13 November 2001
GENEVA, Nov. 13 (UNHCR) – Although increasingly the victims of war and civil disturbance and often conscripted into military service against their will, the number of unaccompanied children seeking asylum in 17 European countries has remained stable during the past two years.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said that in the 17 European countries where data was available for both 1999 and 2000, the number of unaccompanied or separated children who submitted asylum applications remained steady both in their number (between 15,000 and 16,000) and in the percentage (four) of total asylum seekers.
The refugee agency said the unaccompanied children "may be seeking asylum because of fear of persecution or the lack of protection due to human rights violations, armed conflict or disturbances in their own country."
"The fact that these children and adolescents are separated from their parents or their legal or customary caregiver increases the risks of them being exposed to exploitation, including trafficking, or abuse," the report added.
Last year, some 16,100 such children applied in 26 European countries. The proportion of unaccompanied children in the number of total applications submitted differed widely from country to country. In Hungary and The Netherlands, unaccompanied children accounted for 15 percent of all applicants, while in Slovakia the proportion was nine percent.
In the remaining 23 European countries studied, however, the proportion of asylum applications from unaccompanied children represented five percent or less of the total.
While governments reported the data, UNHCR cautioned that the extent of the problem of unaccompanied children under 18 years of age seeking asylum in Europe is difficult to determine due to the lack of accurate data. Some countries, for instance, provide figures in the form of estimates without indicating basic information such as country of origin, age, and sex.
Whatever the figures, they represent a tiny portion of the number of children forced to leave their countries because of violence. Experts say that fully half of the world's refugees and displaced persons are children, and that more than two million of them have been killed in conflicts around the world during the past decade.
The Netherlands, with 6,705 applications, received the largest number of asylum claims last year from unaccompanied children under 18, followed by the United Kingdom, 2,733, Hungary 1,170, Germany, 946, Belgium 848, and Switzerland 727.
UNHCR said that the available data suggests that unaccompanied children seeking asylum are between the ages of 16 and 17. For six countries – Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, and Switzerland – this age group accounted for about half of all unaccompanied children seeking asylum. In three of the countries, Luxembourg, Slovenia, and Spain, all of the children seeking asylum belonged to this age group.
The report also said that unaccompanied children seeking asylum are predominantly male, with females representing just 27 percent of the 8,760 children for whom information was available.
Related Stories
- UNHCR helps resettle 33 unaccompanied children from Tunisia to Norway
- UNHCR assists displaced children in Iraq's Kurdistan region
- Unaccompanied Somali teens at risk in bid to reach safety in Ethiopia
- Caring for the most vulnerable of the vulnerable: orphans in Brazzaville
- Growing numbers of unaccompanied minors seek asylum in Belgium
Children
Almost half the people of concern to UNHCR are children. They need special care.
Refugees: Telling Their Stories
A publication of the winners & finalists of UNHCR's High School Writing Competition
[PDF, 40pp. 1.2Mb]
Refugee teenagers
Related news stories to Unit plan for ages 12-14 in Civic Education
Action for the Rights of Children (ARC): Critical Issues - Child Soldiers
Briefing notes for facilitators, training materials, resources.
Summary update of Machel study follow-up activities in 2001-2002
"Adults go to war, but they don't realize what damage they are doing to children." - A Nicaraguan child
Refugee Teenagers: Escape and Protection from Persecution and War
This brochure is designed for teenagers.
Related Internet Links
- Action for the Rights of Children (ARC)
- Child soldiers – Amnesty International (GCIM)
- Children Rights International Network
- Coalition to stop the use of child soldiers
Iraqi Children Go To School in Syria
UNHCR aims to help 25,000 refugee children go to school in Syria by providing financial assistance to families and donating school uniforms and supplies.
There are some 1.4 million Iraqi refugees living in Syria, most having fled the extreme sectarian violence sparked by the bombing of the Golden Mosque of Samarra in 2006.
Many Iraqi refugee parents regard education as a top priority, equal in importance to security. While in Iraq, violence and displacement made it difficult for refugee children to attend school with any regularity and many fell behind. Although education is free in Syria, fees associated with uniforms, supplies and transportation make attending school impossible. And far too many refugee children have to work to support their families instead of attending school.
To encourage poor Iraqi families to register their children, UNHCR plans to provide financial assistance to at least 25,000 school-age children, and to provide uniforms, books and school supplies to Iraqi refugees registered with UNHCR. The agency will also advise refugees of their right to send their children to school, and will support NGO programmes for working children.
UNHCR's ninemillion campaign aims to provide a healthy and safe learning environment for nine million refugee children by 2010.
Iraqi Children Go To School in Syria
Afghan Street Children Turn from Beggars to Beauticians
A UNHCR-funded project in Kabul, Afghanistan, is helping to keep returnee children off the streets by teaching them to read and write, give them room to play and offer vocational training in useful skills such as tailoring, flower making, and hairstyling.
Every day, Afghan children ply the streets of Kabul selling anything from newspapers to chewing gum, phone cards and plastic bags. Some station themselves at busy junctions and weave through traffic waving a can of smoking coal to ward off the evil eye. Others simply beg from passing strangers.
There are an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 street children in the Afghan capital alone. Among them are those who could not afford an education as refugees in Iran or Pakistan, and are unable to go to school as returnees in Afghanistan because they have to work from dawn to dusk to support their families. For the past seven years, a UNHCR-funded project has been working to bring change.
Posted on 12 November 2008
Afghan Street Children Turn from Beggars to Beauticians
Education for Displaced Colombians
UNHCR works with the government of Colombia to address the needs of children displaced by violence.
Two million people are listed on Colombia's National Register for Displaced People. About half of them are under the age of 18, and, according to the Ministry of Education, only half of these are enrolled in school.
Even before displacement, Colombian children attending school in high-risk areas face danger from land mines, attacks by armed groups and forced recruitment outside of schools. Once displaced, children often lose an entire academic year. In addition, the trauma of losing one's home and witnessing extreme violence often remain unaddressed, affecting the child's potential to learn. Increased poverty brought on by displacement usually means that children must work to help support the family, making school impossible.
UNHCR supports the government's response to the educational crisis of displaced children, which includes local interventions in high-risk areas, rebuilding damaged schools, providing school supplies and supporting local teachers' organizations. UNHCR consults with the Ministry of Education to ensure the needs of displaced children are known and planned for. It also focuses on the educational needs of ethnic minorities such as the Afro-Colombians and indigenous people.
UNHCR's ninemillion campaign aims to provide a healthy and safe learning environment for nine million refugee children by 2010.
Education for Displaced Colombians
Ethiopia: Arriving in Assosa
Zeneib was living in her husband's village in Sudan's Blue Nile state when it was attacked. She lost three brothers and then endured tremendous hardship on the journey to Ethiopia with her children.
1 life 1 story: family
For many who have lost their homes, family ties are even more important than before. Refugee parents talk about their children and how much they love them.
Kenya: Dadaab Keeps Growing
The refugee complex at Dadaab in Kenya keeps growing as more and more Somalis flee drought and conflict, such as Shukri Abdi Sieki and his six children.