Chapter 5 Unaccompanied and separated children Children separated from their parents and families because of conflict, forced displacement, or natural disasters are among the most vulnerable. It is imperative that governments and agencies collect data to identify these children and assist them. However, data availability on displaced unaccompanied and separated children is limited, and not all countries report these data, including countries with significant numbers of asylum claims such as South Africa and the United States of America. For the first time, UNHCR began reporting on the number of unaccompanied and separated children who are registered as refugees. To date, reporting has been only on asylum applications, and unfortunately these data are reported in only a minority of countries. While efforts are being made, including with partner agencies such as UNICEF, to improve data on displaced children, 62 current available data significantly underestimate numbers of both asylum-seeking and refugee unaccompanied and separated children. Asylum applications 9,900 claims, a 68 per cent increase from 2016 when 5,900 claims were registered. The number of unaccompanied and separated children arriving by sea in that country was estimated at 15,800 in 2017, some 91 per cent of all children. 63 Thus, in 2017 a significantly larger proportion of unaccompanied and separated children arriving by sea in Italy submitted applications for asylum than in 2016, when an estimated 25,900 unaccompanied and separated children arrived. The greatest number of applications came from children from Gambia with 2,100 claims, followed by Nigeria (1,200), Bangladesh (1,100), Guinea (1,000), Senegal (900), Mali (800) and Côte d’Ivoire (800), Eritrea (600), Ghana (400), and Pakistan (200). Germany received 9,100 claims from unaccompanied and separated children in 2017, just over a quarter of the number in 2016 when it received the most claims with 35,900. As in 2016, Afghan children submitted the most claims (2,200), but this is considerably lower than 2016 (15,000). The next most common nationalities were Eritrean (1,500), Somali (1,200), Guinean (900), Syrian (700), Iraqi (500), and Gambian (400). Provisional data indicated that 45,500 unaccompanied and separated children sought asylum on an individual basis in 2017, with 67 countries reporting at least one such application. This number, while known to be an underestimate due to under-reporting, was lower than in 2016 when 75,000 were reported and in 2015 (98,400). Nevertheless, it was more than double the 34,300 applications from unaccompanied and separated children reported in 2014. Most applications were from children aged 15 to 17 (33,300), but a substantial minority of applications (12,200) were from unaccompanied and separated children aged 14 or younger. Unaccompanied and separated children submitted 2,700 claims in Egypt in 2017, almost double the number submitted in 2016 (1,500). The majority of these claims were from Eritrean children (1,500) as well as Ethiopian (400), Somali (300), South Sudanese (200), and Sudanese children (100). Other countries with 1,000 or more claims from unaccompanied and separated children in 2017 included Sweden (2,700), Turkey (2,300), Greece (2,300), United Kingdom (2,200), Tanzania (2,100), Austria (1,400), France (1,200), Zambia (1,100) and the Netherlands (1,100). The number of claims from unaccompanied and separated children in 2017 was the greatest in Italy with 62 See: https://data.unicef.org/resources/call-action-protecting-childrenmove-starts-better-data/. 48 63 See: https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/mediterranean/location/5205. unhcr > Global trends 2017