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The EU Home Affairs Sub-Committee has said that unaccompanied child migrants are being let down by EU member states.

In a report published on Tuesday (26/07/16), the committee said that, in 2015, a total of 88,245 unaccompanied children had applied for asylum in the EU. However, a “conservative estimate” by EUROPOL suggested that at least 10,000 unaccompanied migrant children were currently missing in the EU.

Chairman of the Sub-Committee, Baroness Prashar, said:

“The current refugee crisis is the greatest humanitarian challenge the EU has faced in its lifetime – at the sharp end of this crisis are unaccompanied migrant children, who are being failed across the board.

“We found a clear failure among EU countries – including the UK – to shoulder their fair share of the burden.

“We deeply regret the UK government’s reluctance to relocate migrant children to the UK – in particular, those living in terrible conditions in the camps near the Channel ports.

“It is particularly shocking that so many unaccompanied child migrants are falling out of the system altogether and going missing.

“How can member states – including the UK – tolerate a situation where there are more than 10,000 missing migrant children in the EU?

“We urge the EU institutions and the UK government to address these complex problems urgently – at the end of the day, unaccompanied child migrants are children first and foremost and we need to work together to care for them in a decent and humane way.”

The reports says that children often display a lack of trust in the authorities – and in some cases, resort to drastic measures to avoid cooperating with them.

The committee calls for a stronger focus on developing “durable solutions”, retaining the principle of prioritising the child's best interests at its core.

The report also calls for a system of independent guardians – appointed as soon as possible to act in the child's best interests – to be established across the EU and the UK.

The report adds that lack of action and implementation of existing measures are leading to an increased vulnerability among unaccompanied children to smugglers, traffickers and organised crime.

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