UNICEF said that in the first three months of 2019, 3,800 children arrived in Europe by sea and that one in every four migrant arrivals was a minor. In 2018, the figure was one in every five arrivals.
UNICEF has voiced its concern about the over 1,000 minors among the 3,000 migrants held in Libyan detention centers in conflict zones. ''They have already suffered all types of torture and the worst is feared,'' said the Italian branch spokesman.
The latest figures from Italy’s office of national statistics, ISTAT, highlight that around 10 percent of people under 18 in Italy were born to migrant parents. Some arrived in Italy as children but the vast majority of them were born on Italian soil. A new study looks at the opportunities and challenges of these children.
Three recent attacks on migrant centers hosting unaccompanied minors in Catalonia have raised concern about xenophobic trends in the region. Workers and migrants have been treated in the hospital and facilities have been damaged.
A report by UNICEF said that migrant children become more vulnerable when they enter the protection system in Spain. And that's despite the fact that minors in Spain are protected by policies for children and not the regular migration policies.
An Italian court has found a resolution by the Lombardy regional council to be discriminatory against migrants. The resolution limits access to regional 'baby bonuses' to households in which both parents have been living in the region for 5 consecutive years prior to the baby's birth.
For two years, Sissoko, a 31-year-old Malian, has been trying to recover from his crossing of the Mediterranean. Of around 130 people who boarded the ship, 62 died, including all the children on board.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has expressed concern over the Italian law on immigration and security because contained within the decree is a concept which labels even children as a potential ‘social danger.’
Around 250 unaccompanied minors are camped out in freezing temperatures on the northern coast of France. Living on the streets without proper access to food, they have reportedly endured regular attacks by police.
The Council of Europe has released a child-friendly handbook on migration that provides guidelines for professionals working with migrant minors on how to give correct and age-appropriate information regarding their rights.
Half the refugee population worldwide are under 18, Caritas reports. 300,000 of these children and teenagers are without their families.
Violence against refugee children at the EU's external borders is on the rise, says a new report from Save the Children. The organization's Meike Riebau spoke to DW about what minors experience at the bloc's frontiers.