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STORY: GENEVA / MIGRANT CHILDREN
TRT: 2:21
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 6 MAY 2016 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
RECENT
1. Aerial shot, Palais des Nations
6 MAY 2016 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, press room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Sarah Crowe, Spokesperson for UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
“Last year, in 2015, 96,500 unaccompanied children applied for asylum in all of Europe, so this included EU and non EU countries, and we are calling urgently today for very strong measures to be taken for those children who are at serious risk of abuse, exploitation and trafficking because this is now a record number of unaccompanied children, a fourfold increase from 2014."
4. Wide shot, podium
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Sarah Crowe, Spokesperson for UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
“What is interesting about this crisis as well, it is probably the first digital humanitarian crisis because every single person on the move seems to have a smartphone and WhatsApp and Viber and navigates their way through to finding help and they often have a phone number of an uncle in Germany, and they are stuck in Austria and they simply keep going. So that is why they are not fully accounted for in the system."
6. Med shot, Sarah Crowe
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Sarah Crowe, Spokesperson for UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
“This is a Europe that should be fit for children, for all children. So it means there needs to be much better monitoring and child protection systems in place, otherwise they will be facing those kinds of risks of exploitation of abuse and trafficking. And that may indeed happen, but not enough is known about how many do get taken into those kinds of gangs or trafficking. So much more needs to be done, more attention needs to be paid to how they fall between the cracks."
8. Zoom in, cell phone
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Sarah Crowe, Spokesperson for UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
“The concept of family ties needs to be expanded, to include an extended family. At the moment it includes only children who have direct, the nuclear family, which is not always in the best interest of the child to be reunited with their family."
10. Med shot, journalists
11. Med shot, journalists
12. Wide shot, press room
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) called for urgent measures to protect unaccompanied refugee and migrant children in Europe as their number reached a record 96,500 in 2015.
UNICEF’s spokesperson Sarah Crowe told reporters today (6 May) in Geneva that “last year, in 2015, 96,500 unaccompanied children applied for asylum in all of Europe, so this included EU and non EU countries, and we are calling urgently today for very strong measures to be taken for those children who are at serious risk of abuse, exploitation and trafficking because this is now a record number of unaccompanied children, a fourfold increase from 2014."
UNICEF’s call came as European Union member states begin negotiations at creating a fairer and more sustainable system for dealing with migrants and refugees. UNICEF stressed that decisions should be based on the best interest of the child, calling for this principle to be strengthened in the Dublin Regulation currently under discussion. The Dublin Regulation is a European Union (EU) law that determines the EU Member State responsible to examine an application for asylum seekers seeking international protection under the Geneva Convention and the EU Qualification Directive, within the European Union.
Crowe said that “what is interesting about this crisis as well is, it is probably the first digital humanitarian crisis because every single person on the move seems to have a smartphone and WhatsApp and Viber and navigates their way through to finding help and they often have a phone number of an uncle in Germany, and they are stuck in Austria and they simply keep going. So that is why they are not fully accounted for in the system."
Interpol estimates one in nine unaccompanied refugee and migrant children is unaccounted for or missing, but the figures are believed to be far higher. In Slovenia, more than 80 per cent of unaccompanied children went missing from reception centres, while in Sweden up to ten children are reported missing each week. Earlier this year, 4,700 unaccompanied children were recorded as missing in Germany.
UNICEF also stressed the importance of speeding up decisions involving a child, pointing out that children currently have to wait up to 11 months between registration and transfer to a country that has agreed to accept them. UNICEF calls for shortening the waiting period to no longer than 90 days, immediate appointment of a guardian, and accelerated family reunification.
Crowe said that “this is a Europe that should be fit for children, for all children. So it means there needs to be much better monitoring and child protection systems in place, otherwise they will be facing those kinds of risks of exploitation of abuse and trafficking. And that may indeed happen, but not enough is known about how many do get taken into those kinds of gangs or trafficking. So much more needs to be done, more attention needs to be paid to how they fall between the cracks”.
The majority of unaccompanied children who applied for asylum in Europe in 2015 were teenage boys from Afghanistan, while Syrians were the second largest group. A significant number were under 14 years of age, travelling alone without the protection of an adult.
Sarah Crowe said that “the concept of family ties needs to be expanded, to include an extended family. At the moment it includes only children who have direct, the nuclear family, which is not always in the best interest of the child to be reunited with their family”.
UNICEF reported that in some countries, unaccompanied children made up more than half of all children who arrived in 2015. In Sweden, lone adolescents accounted for 50 percent of all child refugees, while in Italy 12,300 unaccompanied children arrived and a further 4,000 were with their families.
