C. Unaccompanied children seeking asylum

As regards children, UNHCR had sponsored a Symposium on Unaccompanied Children in September 1996.

Joint statement on the evacuation of unaccompanied children from Rwanda

A special focus was placed on unaccompanied and traumatized children.

Some 500 unaccompanied children separated from their families remain in Guinea.

Concern for separated and unaccompanied children was a near universal theme.

Unaccompanied and separated children, especially girls, are particularly vulnerable to trafficking.

Other activities included support, care and family reunification of unaccompanied children.

Children who are unaccompanied or separated from their families are especially at risk.

These separated children face risks similar to those of unaccompanied children, and their protection needs also require priority attention.

The main focus of the training was unaccompanied and separated children and child recruitment.

Special assistance has been extended to unaccompanied, traumatized minors and other children in distress.

The number of unaccompanied children in Burundi could now be as high as 3,000.

Unaccompanied and separated children should never be detained for reasons related to their immigration status.

26. In 1996, UNHCR hosted a symposium on unaccompanied children seeking asylum, which resulted in the Office publishing, in February 1997, the Guidelines on Policies and Procedures in Dealing with Unaccompanied Children Seeking Asylum. V. CURRENT RESPONSES

Another outcome of this inter agency collaboration was the Registration Form for Unaccompanied and Separated Children, which promotes a harmonized and comprehensive approach to the gathering of registration information for unaccompanied and separated children to be used globally.

Under the category Separated and unaccompanied children are the subcategories of Separated child , Unaccompanied child , Child in foster care , Child in institutional care and Neglected child with extended family .

UNICEF and its partners also facilitated the registration, tracing and reunification of separated and unaccompanied children.

There were relatively few unaccompanied children, a fact that likely reflected a higher mortality rate among young children than was initially estimated.

These deployments strengthened UNHCR's capacity to address the protection and care of refugee children, in particular those of unaccompanied and separated children.

3. Expresses its deep concern about the growing number of unaccompanied refugee and internally displaced children, and calls upon all States and United Nations bodies and agencies to ensure the early identification and registration of unaccompanied refugee and internally displaced children, to give priority to programmes for family tracing and reunification, and to continue monitoring the care arrangements for unaccompanied refugee and internally displaced children

3. Expresses its deep concern about the growing number of unaccompanied refugee and internally displaced children, and calls upon all States and United Nations bodies and agencies to ensure the early identification and registration of unaccompanied refugee and internally displaced children, to give priority to programmes for family tracing and reunification and to continue monitoring the care arrangements for unaccompanied refugee and internally displaced children

UNHCR would concentrate on five areas of particular concern unaccompanied children, adolescents, education, sexual exploitation and preventing and monitoring the recruitment of children.

These data suggest that the majority of the unaccompanied and separated children are male (72 per cent).

43. Calls for the continual monitoring of the care arrangements of unaccompanied refugee and internally displaced children

51. The categories of children identified as having special protection needs include ex combatant youth, refugee and internally displaced children, sexually abused girls and unaccompanied and street children.

In the performance of her mandate, the Special Rapporteur has paid particular attention to the situation of female migrants and children, especially unaccompanied children.

Article 22 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child addresses the situation of refugee children and makes particular reference to unaccompanied children.

The Government also provided detailed information on action taken for the protection of women migrants and unaccompanied children.

In Malawi, UNHCR engaged unaccompanied and separated children in sports activities in order to encourage self sustaining activities.

26. In 1997 UNHCR issued new guidelines on policies and procedures in dealing with unaccompanied children seeking asylum.

(b) The Committee urges the State party to protect unaccompanied alien children and to avoid the unsupervised release of such children into the general population.

The Guidelines cover a range of issues relating to the protection of unaccompanied minors, emphasize the special needs of unaccompanied children in light of their vulnerability and advocate a comprehensive approach to their problem.

In West Africa, regular regional inter agency meetings were held with a particular focus on unaccompanied and separated children.

7 UNHCR, Trends in separated and unaccompanied children seeking asylum in industrialized countries, 2001 2003, Geneva, July 2004, p. 7.

Priority was given to protecting and assisting unaccompanied minors and to the issue of recruiting children and adolescents as soldiers.

Following the Symposium, UNHCR finalized its Guidelines on Unaccompanied Children Seeking Asylum, which were published and issued in February 1997.

Activities include teacher training, school focused income generation, girls education, environmental education, and tracing and integration assistance for unaccompanied children.

Currently, some 6,200 unaccompanied children in institutions, 6,000 street children, 3,000 youth in detention, 60,000 child headed households and 500 children in institutions for former child soldiers are covered under this programme.

283. The Committee is deeply concerned about the consequences of armed conflict on families, in particular the emergence of a population of unaccompanied children, orphans and abandoned children.

927. The Committee is deeply concerned about the consequences of armed conflict on families, in particular the emergence of a population of unaccompanied children, orphans and abandoned children.

Such interventions are particularly important for unaccompanied and separated children, as they do not have parents to represent and support them.

3. UNHCR identified, registered and traced unaccompanied children arriving either through transit centres or spontaneously in provinces in the border areas.

If the families of unaccompanied minors could not be found, UNHCR, together with implementing partners, placed the children with foster families.

There are many serious manifestations of the impact of the prolonged conflict on children, such as street children, child combatants, displaced children, unaccompanied children, and victims of atrocities, as well as the collapse of health and education services.