Children in migration in 2019
date: 30/03/2020
permalink: Main URL
In 2019, Member States apprehended over 140,000 migrants entering the EU unauthorised. About 33,000 were children. Over 5,000 were unaccompanied.
This exposes children to greater risk – the risk of violence, exploitation, trafficking and abuse.
The latest FRA report highlights the 10 main challenges migrant children face. These include:
- The risk of death or injury when trying to enter the EU by sea or land.
- Being stranded – In 2019, twice as many rescue vessels could not dock immediately compared to 2018. This left over 780 children stranded on board, often in bad weather and in poor health for over a week.
- Being pushed back, sometimes violently, at the border without assessing whether they are at risk of persecution or danger. This contravenes international and EU law. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) estimate that authorities pushed back at least 1,230 children on the Western Balkan route.
- Not enough space in reception centres for asylum-seeking children, particularly unaccompanied children with special protection needs. This applied to Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain.
- Deplorable hygiene and sanitation conditions in Greek migration hotspots. Standards were also poor in Belgium, Cyprus, Croatia, France, Italy, France, Malta, Hungary and Spain.
- Ineffective protection from sexual and labour exploitation due to shortcomings in national child-protection systems.
- Lengthy asylum procedures. This can be due to the long time it takes to assess age or appoint legal guardians. Guardians apply for asylum on behalf of children.
- Detention of migrant children to ensure their return. Detention conditions remained either poor or worsened in 2019.
- The forced return of unaccompanied children.
- Trauma following the handling of how authorities treat parents and their children as they are being returned.