The transfer of a group of unaccompanied migrant children from Greece to Portugal this week has brought them a step closer to a life of safety. But as tens of thousands of children remain behind in squalid migrant camps, their mental health is being pushed to breaking point.
A group of associations and NGOs set up a camp for young migrants in the heart of Paris on Monday evening to highlight the plight of young people who claim to be minors. While they wait for their paperwork to be handled, they do not benefit from any care.
A new video project in Italy, entitled "Quarantine Diaries" allows unaccompanied migrant children and young adults in Rome to recount their emotions and feelings during the coronavirus lockdown. The project was the culmination of a video course given by editors at the Italian online intercultural magazine Piùculture.
Nearly 1,800 cases of missing children among unaccompanied migrants in Germany have been registered, according to a parliamentary enquiry. The number, however, has been falling steadily.
The mayors of three cities in Italy's northeastern Friuli Venezia Giulia region have sent a letter to the Italian government to express concern over the arrival of migrants in the region.
France has announced it will take in some 750 asylum seekers, including 350 unaccompanied minors, from Greece. The first transfers are expected to take place in July.
British authorities say they have recorded a surge in attempted boat crossings in the English Channel this year - a trend that appears to be reinforced by coronavirus travel restrictions forcing migrants on boats rather than trucks. On Wednesday, a Sky News reporter witnessed the rescue of around 65 migrants traveling to UK shores on tiny dinghies. Meanwhile, human rights lawyers are concerned that migrants are being returned from the UK to France illegally.
More than 50 vulnerable migrants, including children, are flying on from Greece to the UK on Monday to join family members there. The British Guardian newspaper referred to the move as "unprecedented."
Finland is the latest EU country to announce it is preparing to fly about 100 unaccompanied children from overcrowded camps on the Greek islands to the capital Helsinki.
Germany’s interior minister, Horst Seehofer, has announced that the 47 unaccompanied children flown from the Greek islands to Germany in mid-April will leave quarantine soon. They will then be sent to several German states.
Unaccompanied minors made up 7% of all asylum applications in 2019, according to the EU's statistics office, Eurostat. The number, however, is about 20% down from applications filed the previous year.
Portugal is the latest in a list of 10 EU countries to announce that will soon bring 50 unaccompanied migrant children from the Greek islands. According to EU sources, the children will be flown to Portugal in May.