UNACCOMPANIED & SEPARATED MINORS (UASMS)APPROACHES OF THE E.U., LATIN AMERICA, AND THE U.S.November 3, 2015Eskinder NegashForum on Investing In Young Children Globally

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REFUGEES BY HOSTING COUNTRY (2014)

Map: UN Information Centre in Cairo

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GLOBAL OVERVIEW In 2014, the UN Refugee Agency reported 60 million forcibly displaced

persons worldwide. 19.5M refugees 38.2M internally displaced persons 1.8M asylum-seekers

51% of refugees are under the age of 18

Refugee children are: Vulnerable Dependent Developing

USCRI has a long history of working with UASMs and has developed a report on options for managing the flow of these children.

Za'atari refugee camp

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UNACCOMPANIED & SEPARATED MINORS

(UASMS)International law defines “unaccompanied” children as those “under 18 years of age who have been separated from both parents and are not being cared for by an adult who, by law or custom, is responsible to do so.”

“Separated” children are defined as those “under 18 years of age who are separated from both parents or from their previous legal or customary primary caregiver.”

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SYRIA Over 1 million Syrian refugee children

8,000 are URMs

Map: UNHCR

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AFRICA 5 main countries of origin for

refugees submitted by the UNHCR for resettlement Democratic Republic of the

Congo - 53% Somalia - 23% Eritrea - 8% Burundi - 3% Sudan - 3%

Collection of the required information and documentation in support of the resettlement of unaccompanied or separated children cases is not always easily available.

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AFRICA

2013 South Sudanese refugees 7,000 UASMs are displaced 31,000 UASMs have fled to neighboring countries 19,138 South Sudanese URMs have fled to Ethiopia In Kenya, 11,764 UASMs in the Kakuma refugee camp (63%

from South Sudan)

Additional UASM populations As of September 2015, 2,503 UASMs have been registered in

Rwanda There are 73,173 UASMs in Ethiopia It’s estimated that 45% of refugee minors in Northern

Uganda are unaccompanied

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THE AMERICAS Apprehensions of children at the U.S. border rose from 4,910 in

2010 to 51,705 in 2014.

In 2014, the UNHCR in its “Children on the Run” report indicated 712% increase in asylum applications by Central American children in countries other than the U.S.

December 2014: In-Country Processing Program for minors in the Northern Triangle began 4,300 have applied; not a single child has arrived.

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COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN

Map: CBP

Info

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Info

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U.S. AND MEXICO

Graphs by WOLA

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THE EU

24,000 unaccompanied minors applying for asylum in Europe last year.

UNICEF, Macedonia registered 3,857 in the last 4 months.

Germany is expecting to see the highest number of UASMs entering its borders in six years.

Map: European Migration Network

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169,559 is UNHCR’s total projected resettlement needs for 2016. • No data on how many

are unaccompanied children

• Many countries in the region are still not a part of the 1951 Convention.

• Iran hosts the largest number of urban refugees worldwide, mostly Afghan.

ASIA

Map: UNHCR

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The highest number of unaccompanied children are:

(Based on the UNHCR Global Trends Report and reports from partners on the ground)

ASIA

Origin Host

Afghanistan Turkey, Indonesia, Pakistan, India

Burma/ Myanmar Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia

Bhutan Nepal

Iraq Jordan

Syria Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon,

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RECOMMENDATIONS

Recognize new forms of displacement.

Grant “Children Protective Status” which makes them not removable for duration of the designation, granted travel authorization, can obtain employment authorization documents.

Strengthen and create uniformity in regional and national frameworks which include child-welfare standards for ensuring protection.

Encourage the UNHCR to work with additional resettlement countries to build their capacity to receive URMs and include slots for unaccompanied refugee minors.

Increase resources for outreach, registration, and best interest determination processes for increased identification of unaccompanied children in need of resettlement.

The U.S. Government must prioritize raising the number of URMs that it resettles annually.

THANK YOUREFERENCES About Unaccompanied Refugee Minors, ORR, http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/programs/urm/about (last visited Oct. 16, 2015). A. Makris, UN: Refugee Children in Europe Severely Traumatized, Greek Reporter (Sept. 26, 2015), http://eu.greekreporter.com/2015/09/26/un-

refugee-children-in-europe-severely-traumatized. Border Patrol: Family, Children Arrests at Border Jump 52 Percent, U.S. News (Sept. 21, 2015), available at

http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2015/09/21/white-house-surprising-uptick-in-us-border-crossings. Brian Parkin, Germany Shames EU for Failure to Shoulder Refugee Surge, Bloomberg Business (Aug. 23, 2015), available at

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-23/germany-shames-eu-partners-for-failure-to-shoulder-refugee-surge. Children on the Run, UNHCR (March 2014), available at http://unhcrwashington.org/children. David Crouch, Now They Can’t Stop Running: Sweden’s Sharp Rise in Child Refugees, The Guardian (Sept. 10, 2015), available at

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/10/sweden-sharp-rise-child-refugees. Erin Banco, Overwhelmed by Thousands of Children Traveling Alone, Europe Considers Adoption, International Business Times (Oct. 5, 2015)

available at http://www.ibtimes.com/overwhelmed-thousands-refugee-children-traveling-alone-europe-considers-adoption-2125338. European Refugee Crisis Fact Sheet, Save the Children (Sept. 28, 2015), available at www.savethechildren.org/.../EU-CX-

15_FACTSHEET_28SEPT2015_V2. PDF. European Commission, Shaping a Common Approach on Unaccompanied Minors (Sept. 28, 2012), available at http://europa.eu/rapid/press-

release_MEMO-12-716_en.htm?locale=en. Facts and Figures about Refugees, UNHCR, http://www.unhcr.org.uk/about-us/key-facts-and-figures.html. Ingrid Carlqvist, ‘Refugee Children’ Invade Sweden, Gatestone Institute (July 23, 2015), available at

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6190/sweden-refugee-children. Kenya: Humanitarian Situation Report, UNICEF (Mar. 2015),

http://www.unicef.org/appeals/files/KCO_Humanitarian_Situation_Report_Jan_Mar_2015.pdf. Migration Policy Debates http://www.oecd.org/migration/Is-this-refugee-crisis-different.pdf (last visited October 21, 2015). Rwanda: Humanitarian Situation Report, UNICEF (Sept. 2015),

http://www.unicef.org/appeals/files/UNICEF_Rwanda_Humanitarian_SitRep_30Sept2015.pdf. Refugee Children Crisis, Save the Children, http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.9311443/k.5C24/Refugee_Children_Crisis.htm

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http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/unaccompanied-minors-a-growing-component-of-refugee-influx-in-europe/article7678133.ece. Policies, Practices and Data on Unaccompanied Minors, European Migration Network (May 2015), http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-

do/networks/european_migration_network/reports/docs/emn-studies/emn_study_policies_practices_and_data_on_unaccompanied_minors_in_the_eu_member_states_and_norway_synthesis_report_final_eu_2015.pdf.

Southwest Border Unaccompanied Alien Children, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-border-unaccompanied-children (last visited Oct. 16, 2015).

Tom K. Wong, Statistical Analysis Shows that Violence, Not Deferred Action, Is Behind the Surge of Unaccompanied Children Crossing the Border, Center for American Progress (July 8, 2014), available at https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/news/2014/07/08/93370/statistical-analysis-shows-that-violence-not-deferred-action-is-behind-the-surge-of-unaccompanied-children-crossing-the-border/.

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