Number of children seeking asylum in Europe near double that of 2014

The number of children who have sought asylum in the European Union has almost doubled compared to the same period last year, Unicef UK revealed today, as it launched a briefing warning that children were facing more devastating wars and disasters than ever before.  
 
The leading children’s agency said between January and September 2015, some 190,000 children sought asylum in Europe, compared to 98,000 in the same period of 2014, according to the latest available Eurostat data analysed and collated by Unicef UK. In 2015, an average of almost 700 children per day are claiming asylum on European soil. 
 
Unicef UK revealed the extent of increasing dangers that are forcing families to make these perilous journeys in its briefing. One in ten of the world’s children is now growing up in a conflict zone – some 230 million children. In Syria, where many refugees are from, one in five children are forced to cross conflict lines to take exams. In Yemen, 573 children have been killed since the fighting escalated in March this year, more than four times the total in 2014. Humanitarian emergencies have also exacerbated existing risks of violence, exploitation and abuse – including child labour amongst Syrian refugees, trafficking in the wake of the Nepal earthquake, and sexual violence against girls during the Ebola epidemic.
 
“Children have been killed while studying in the classroom, recovering in hospital or sleeping in their beds. Many have been orphaned, forced to become soldiers, kidnapped, raped and traumatised”, said Unicef UK Deputy Executive Director Lily Caprani. “Protecting children from violence is life-saving, just as much as water, shelter and medicine, yet it isn’t prioritised in the same way. This has to change.”
 
Unicef UK is calling on the UK Government to prioritise protecting children from violence, seizing the opportunity of the first World Humanitarian Summit next year. The briefing recommends that the UK should commit to:

• protecting children from extreme violence – tackling the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, sexual violence and other grave dangers  

• protecting the schools that keep children safe – including endorsing new international guidelines to stop schools being used by military forces 

• protecting children who are torn from their families by wars and disasters.