CHILDREN IN MIGRATION IN 2019 - ANNUAL REVIEW

The publication presents the data collected by the European agency FRA anout EU Member States’ legal and practical approaches and responses to migrants and refugees implicate several of their fundamental rights, as enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.  

Children in migration are more vulnerable than adults, particularly when they are unaccompanied. Their vulnerability makes them more exposed to violence,exploitation and trafficking in human beings, as well as physical, psychological and sexual abuse.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) obliges states to protect children from violence, exploitation and abuse. All EU Member States have ratified the convention, and the EU is guided by the principles and rights set out therein. Nevertheless, many of the children coming to the EU to seek international protection, alone or with their families, are not sufficiently protected. This report looks into challenges to the fundamental rights of children in migration throughout 2019. It pulls together the main issues identified in FRA’s Quarterly Bulletins on migration in selected EU Member States. 

This publication is based on quarterly reports that the European Union Agencyfor Fundamental Rights (FRA) commissioned under a contract with its research network, FRANET. Throughout 2019, FRANET provided FRA with descriptive up-to-date data on migration-related fundamental rights concerns on a quarterly basis. The data are based on interviews and desk research, and do not include analyses or conclusions.

The evidence presented in this report is based on interviews with representatives of public institutions, non-governmental organisations, Ombudspersons and international organisations, as well as on desk research.

In addition, where sources of information are available in the public domain, hyperlinks can be found in the footnotes throughout the text.

FRA has been collecting data on migration in selected EU Member States since September 2015.

As of 2020, the reports focus on 16 EU Member States, North Macedonia and Serbia. For the first time, coverage now includes Cyprus and