UNICEF in Emergencies & Humanitarian Action

Migrant and refugee crisis in Europe

The rising number of people entering Europe in search of safety and in search of a better life has captured the world’s attention with scenes of heartbreaking tragedy. Travelling hundreds and thousands of miles over land and over water, from Africa, the Middle East and Asia, people are risking everything in the hope of reaching their goal, and the danger does not end at a border crossing.

Amid this crisis, children are the most vulnerable of all. Many are travelling with their families, while many others are on their own. Every one of them is in need of protection and entitled to the rights guaranteed under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Migrant children and women, especially those migrating without documentation, are vulnerable to trafficking, abuse and exploitation. In countries of transit and destination, migrants and their families often find themselves victims of discrimination, poverty and social marginalization.

UNICEF is engaging with EU Member States, UN agency partners and organizations working on the ground to ensure that programmes and policies in response to this crisis put the rights and needs of all children first. It is also working to expand humanitarian services at reception centres in transit countries, including providing water and age-appropriate food, and establishing child-friendly spaces, where children can play and benefit from psychosocial support and women can rest and take care of their babies.

At the same time, there are still millions caught in situations of conflict, displacement, poverty and underdevelopment – the main causes of the crisis – and UNICEF remains committed in its effort to supporting sustainable solutions where they are needed most.

Kinan Kadouni, 26, a Syrian now living in Belgium, helps a young boy off a boat of newly arrived refugees, on the island of Lesbos, in Greece's North Aegean region, 30 September 2015. Mr. Kadouni left his home in Syria five years ago and today volunteers for the Red Cross, which ran the refugee centre where he stayed for 2.5 years while his asylum application was completed. “This lovely boy made my day with his nice smile," he says. "When everyone else was afraid, this boy was laughing.”

Appeal

In order to assist governments as well as partner organizations in those countries where the greatest number of children are on the move, UNICEF is appealing for US$30 million to support the needs of affected children and women through 2016. For an overview of UNICEF's humanitarian strategy, proposed interventions and funding requirements, visit Humanitarian Action for Children.

Press releases

The UNICEF Press Centre page on the refugee and migrant crisis in Europe contains an up-to-date list of press releases and statements.

Stories and blogs

Bitsaiah’s journey of despair and hope
17 February 2016 – Nine-year old Bitsaiah was afraid and exhausted by the time she reached Šid, a small town in Serbia, only a few kilometres away from the Croatian border. She was separated from her parents and younger brother who were stranded in Greece. All Bitsaiah wanted was to be with her family.

Long journey to Europe: a father’s perspective
15 February 2016 – Noala Skinner, Director, UNICEF Brussels and Sam Mort, Senior Communications Advisor, UNICEF HQ, travelled to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The objective of their trip was to see how the EU/UNICEF partnership is making a difference for children. Here, they share their impressions of something they hadn’t expected.

A moment for children to be children
28 January 2016 – As the proportion of child refugees and migrants arriving into Europe increases, providing opportunities for children to be children again, and for mothers to rest and nurse their babies in privacy – if only for a few hours – is more important than ever.

What would you do to escape?
11 January 2016 – On assignment for UNICEF, I was documenting the experience of children and families as they migrated from Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. Allahyar, 13, was one of the boys from the car trunk; I asked why he left Afghanistan. “There is war there,” he told me.

A bear hug from Aysha
6 January 2016 – “I’m eight,” Farah said holding up her two open palms, with two fingers folded. “I’m in second grade,” she added with a huge smile. She then declared that she wanted to be a doctor when she grew up and when I asked why, she threw me a puzzled look.

Refugees in Europe: Then and Now
24 December 2015 – Seven decades after World War II, refugees fleeing conflict continue to seek safety beyond their homelands.

Born into conflict
17 December 2015 – Every two seconds, a child takes his or her first breath in a conflict zone. Among refugee and migrant children on the move, the risks to newborns and mothers are especially acute.

Helping refugees and migrants weather the Balkan winter
SID, Serbia, 2 December 2015 – Chartered buses lined up at the Sid railway station unload their passengers on the Serbian side of the border with Croatia. As people queue for police to check their papers, it becomes apparent that some of the youngest among them are struggling in the cold, with temperatures only a few degrees above freezing. One boy, little more than an infant, sits on the ground wearing just one tatty shoe. His other foot is bare.

Going to school in a dinghy
1 December 2015 – We knew we might die on the way in the sea, but one death is better than another death. A probable death in the sea is better than a certain death back at home.

Reuniting separated families
Serbia, 1 December 2015 – Over the last months we have seen hundreds of thousands of people pass through the town of Presevo in southern Serbia. Many of them are children. They are exhausted and often disorientated from their precarious journeys.

A future worth any risk
19 November 2015 – Despite the risks, refugee and migrants are entering Europe — by boat, by road, by train and on foot — at levels not seen since World War II.

Children on the move
19 November 2015 – The movement of children and families across Europe is the largest since World War II.

What you need to know about children on the move in Europe
19 November 2015 –I just returned from one week following the refugee and migrant route. We started at the border between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, walking about a kilometre on a dirt road to the Gevgelija Reception Center, in the middle of nowhere.

Refugee children on the shores of Europe
LESBOS, Greece, October 2015 – Far from home, in a compound for Syrian asylum seekers in Lesbos, Malak passes the time by playing with a white cat. For the last month, this has been her home, after she and her mother made the precarious boat journey from Turkey.

Caught in Europe’s refugee crisis, children caring for themselves and each other
PRESEVO, Serbia, 13 October 2015 – Nearly hidden among the thousands of people arriving every day in Europe in search of safety and a better life, children travelling without their parents or other adults form a special group – unaccompanied minors – made up of individuals each with a unique story and the need for support.

Child refugees and migrants are children first
6 October 2015 – Jasamin, 3, from Afghanistan is one of the tens of thousands of refugee and migrant children on the move to Europe. Like the hundreds of children crossing the same path every day; she was exhausted and confused about where she was and where she was going from here.

The Syrian conflict and Europe’s refugee crisis in numbers
30 September 2015 – 7.6 million Syrian refugees are internally displaced. More than 4 million Syrian refugees are in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt.

In search of hope
29 September 2015 – Some 30 million children worldwide have left their homes behind, fleeing conflict and hardship in search of safety and hope for a brighter future.

Syrian refugee children take over @UNICEF Twitter to tell their powerful stories
29 September 2015 – Each Syrian child has a story to tell – of their journey, of their reality, of their dreams, of their hopes to rebuild Syria. And these stories need to be heard.

A humane thing: A mother helps mothers fleeing for their lives
LESVOS, Greece, 28 September 2015 — “All of the boats have children on board,” Darcia Christiana Fleur says as she stands on the rocky shore and waits for the first raft of migrants and refugees to arrive from Turkey.

Boset’s story: One child’s journey of survival and hope
BELGRADE, Serbia, September 2015 – In a cold park near the Belgrade train and bus stations, hundreds of refugee and migrant children, with their parents, take a break from their perilous journeys – fleeing conflict in their countries of origin, and on their way to a safer and better future.

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Novak Djokovic visits refugee and migrant children in Serbia
BELGRADE, Serbia, 23 September 2015 – UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Novak Djokovic visited a UNICEF-supported child-friendly space in Belgrade and met some of the refugee and migrant children who are passing through the Republic of Serbia on their way to Western Europe.

“We had to leave Syria so that my children could have a life”
15 September 2015 – There are many stories at the reception centre for refugees and migrants in Gevgelija, in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Every girl and boy, every man and woman who passes through this place has one.

Young Syrians fleeing violence take advantage of mobile apps
4 September 2015 – Jehad cradled his mobile phone in his hand. For the 15-year-old Syrian boy who has been on the move Europe-bound for several weeks, his mobile is one of his most precious belongings.

Children on the move through Europe dream of a ‘normal’ life
31 August 2015 – Most of the children I have spoken with do not want to talk about their experiences with war. They are more interested in sharing their hopes for the future which always seems to include going back to school.

Video

The first call home for an Afghan teen in Serbia
14 October 2015 – Munir, 17, speaks to his mother for the first time since fleeing Afghanistan. Now living inside a tent in a park in the Serbian capital Belgrade, he is planning the rest of his journey in the hope of reaching Germany.

Children are more than labels
5 September 2015 – As heart-breaking images of children’s bodies washing up on the shores of Europe flood social media and news feeds, it is not enough for the world to be shocked by these images. Shock must be matched by action. The plight of these children is neither by their choice nor within their control. They need and have a right to protection.

A crying boy is among children, women and men standing in a grassy area on a rainy day, near the town of Gevgelija, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, on the border with Greece, 10 September 2015. They are among the hundreds of thousands who have left their homes in Africa, the Middle East and Asia trying to reach Europe.