UNICEF calls for urgent measures to protect unaccompanied refugee children in Europe

New data reveal that a record 96,500 unaccompanied refugee and migrant children applied for asylum across Europe in 2015, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday, calling for urgent measures to protect these children from the serious risks of abuse, exploitation and trafficking.

"Unaccompanied children are falling between the cracks," said Marie Pierre Poirier, the UNICEF special coordinator for the refugee and migrant crisis in Europe, in a press release.

"Many simply run away from reception centres to join their extended families while they wait, or because they have not had a full hearing to determine their best interests or have not had their rights explained to them," she said.

According to Interpol estimates, one in nine unaccompanied refugee and migrant children is unaccounted for or missing, and that the figures are believed to be far higher, UNICEF noted.

In Slovenia, for example, more than 80 percent of unaccompanied children went missing from reception centers, while in Sweden up to 10 children are reported missing each week.

Earlier this year, some 4,700 unaccompanied children were recorded as missing in Germany, the UN agency said.

UNICEF's call comes as European Union member states begin negotiations aimed at creating a fairer and more sustainable system for dealing with migrants and refugees. The UN agency stressed that any decision affecting children should be based on the best interests of the child, and called for this principle to be strengthened in the Dublin Regulation currently under discussion.

Meanwhile, 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. The agency said the waiting period should be no longer than 90 days, and there should be immediate appointment of a guardian and accelerated family reunification.

Such measures are key to protecting unaccompanied children and preventing them from going missing, UNICEF said.

The 96,500 unaccompanied children applied for asylum in Europe in 2015 represent about 20 percent of the total number of children who sought asylum.

The majority were teenage boys from Afghanistan, while Syrians were the second largest group. A significant number were under 14 years of age, and travelling alone without the protection of adult family members or guardians, the agency noted.

In addition, UNICEF said 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. Endit