In Focus: Protecting children affected by migration and forced displacement

The forces that drive children from their homes are as varied as they are for adults, and include conflict, climate change and the pressing need to escape grinding poverty. Why children migrate, how they migrate and where they end up are all shaped by these and other factors, including their gender, inequalities and more. But in every case, displacement increases their vulnerability to discrimination, abuse, violence and exploitation.

A lack of safe and legal migration pathways leads many to take dangerous routes to get to their destinations, increasing their vulnerability and exploitation at the hands of people smugglers and traffickers. While on the move, children may face harsh environmental conditions, and a lack of adequate shelter, food, water and sanitation and healthcare, as well as the ever-present threat of violence and death.

Boys and girls who are displaced from their homes face heightened vulnerabilities to exploitation, violence and abuse whilst in transit and at their intended destination. Some are more vulnerable than others, including those travelling alone and those undertaking the longest journeys. Migration routes can be particularly dangerous for adolescent girls, particularly those travelling alone. Many are already fleeing violence, including child marriage, in their home country, or may be being trafficked, and they face severe risks of gender-based violence (GBV) before, during and after migration. 

A high percentage of adolescent girls who have taken the central Mediterranean route have survived sexual violence, and boys are also reported to be subjected to high levels of such violence during their journeys.

Children arriving in Europe are regularly housed in overcrowded and inadequate reception facilities often with adults, and with little privacy. Some children, including those who are unaccompanied, are detained as part of immigration control, either on arrival, or before being returned to the country where they first entered Europe or their country of origin. Such returns are often carried out with no guarantee that this is in the child’s best interests. Those from countries of origin that are considered to be ‘safe’ are unlikely to receive asylum in Europe and face deportation if they cannot regularize their stay. Children who may have spent years in Europe – or who were even born there – may struggle to resettle in countries of origin that do not offer them any specific, additional support.

UNICEF is working with the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum to finalize the monitoring framework for the country’s new guardianship scheme for unaccompanied children. This comprehensive framework includes reporting tools, feedback mechanisms and complaint forms that are designed to be accessible for all unaccompanied children. The scheme, which started in 2024 with continued technical support from UNICEF to the Ministry, emphasizes the need to assess the best interests of each individual child in order to address their vulnerabilities, with a priority focus on unaccompanied girls. The guidelines for the scheme underscore the commitment to assign guardians to vulnerable girls, while the monitoring and evaluation framework includes specific indicators to ensure that girls have a say in the decisions that affect them, and are active participants in the Greek education system.

UNICEF and its partners were already working in Eastern Ukraine to support children affected by the ongoing war when it escalated in 2022, sparking the biggest population movement seen in Europe since World War 2. As millions of people fled westward within Ukraine, or crossed the borders into neighbouring countries, UNICEF raced to meet their critical and escalating needs for safe water, health care, education and protection.

Our immediate emergency response included the delivery of family hygiene kits, baby diapers, maternal health kits, hygiene kits, disinfectants and bottled water to health and social institutions. We worked with partners to provide safe drinking water supplies through water trucking and the delivery of bottled water.

From the outset, we have focused on the need of every child to have some sense of normalcy, providing recreation kits, school-in-a-box kits and early childhood development kits to areas with large concentrations of displaced families. There has also been support for mobile child protection teams who provide psychosocial care, mental health support and protection services.

We have worked with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other partners to activate Blue Dot safe spaces: hubs that bring together critical protection services, support and information for those fleeing the war. There is a strong focus on children and others at greatest risk – particularly unaccompanied and separated children, people with disabilities, those who may have been trafficked, survivors of sexual or gender-based violence and those from the LGBTQI+ community. 

The UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia has also played a key role in supporting humanitarian cash transfers to support tens of thousands of the most vulnerable families with children. We have provided guidance on how authorities and aid workers can best support those who have fled Ukraine, as well as direct information for Ukrainian children and families on their entitlements, on how and where to access services, and more.

There has also been tailored support for adolescents and young people who are building new lives in other countries, including assistance with independent living arrangements.
Our work for children fleeing Ukraine has been supported by UNICEF Refugee Response offices in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia and by our Offices in Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Georgia, Italy, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Türkiye.