Situation reports and advocacy briefs on refugee and migrant children

Latest situation report

• In 2018, some 141,500 refugees and migrants arrived in Europe through the Mediterranean migration routes. On average one in every four was a child. This included an estimated 6,000 unaccompanied and separated children.
• In 2018, UNICEF-supported child protection activities in Greece, Italy, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Germany reached over 28,000 children, while another 18,900 children benefitted from UNICEF-supported formal and non-formal education activities.
• Some 4,550 people accessed gender-based violence prevention and response services, and close to 1,200 social workers and other frontline professionals benefitted from capacity-building on child protection standards and child protection in emergencies.
• Beyond life-saving services, UNICEF also engaged with governments and civil society to ensure sustainability through improved human resources capacities and more robust national child protection and education systems.
• While 2018 presented a major opportunity for the improved protection of children on the move and seeking asylum in European States with the adoption of the Global Compacts on Refugees and on Migration, many challenges remain. Hardening migration and asylum policies and legislation, rescue boats stranded at sea, push-backs at borders, long stays in sub-standard reception facilities, xenophobia and limited access to services and legal pathways towards durable solutions continue to affect refugee and migrant children.

View report: end of year 2018