More unaccompanied children are taking dangerous crossings to Europe, UN says

More than two-thirds of refugee and migrant children who reached Europe via Mediterranean and Balkan routes last year were unaccompanied, and many experienced exploitation, a report by UN agencies showed on Wednesday. While overall child arrivals by land and sea fell 25% from 2024 levels, the proportion travelling alone rose to 67%, from 51% in 2024, the report by the International Organization for Migration, UNHCR and UNICEF found. More than 20,000 of the 31,100 children who arrived in European countries including Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain in 2025 were recorded as unaccompanied or separated from a parent or guardian. More children arriving in Italy and Spain were unaccompanied – 86% – than those arriving in other countries. In Italy, there was a 12% increase in the number of children arriving – many from Egypt, Eritrea, Bangladesh and Somalia. Poverty, conflict and environmental hazards are among the reasons people undertake perilous sea crossings, and shrinking safe migration pathways appeared to be pushing more children into dangerous journeys and the hands of smugglers, the report found. The number of children involved in refugee resettlement procedures in Europe dropped to 3,400 in 2025 from 8,900 a year earlier, while only 199 children – none of whom were unaccompanied – were relocated between European countries under the Voluntary Solidarity Mechanism, down 67%. The EU arrangement, launched in 2022, enables countries receiving large numbers of migrant and asylum seeker arrivals to relocate some of them to other participating European states on a voluntary basis. “This report shows how exposed they [children] are to violence and exploitation when safe pathways are limited, and they have to rely on smugglers,” IOM Director General Amy Pope said in a statement, urging closer cooperation between European states and countries along the routes to counter smuggling networks that prey on minors. Interviews with more than 4,600 15- to 24-year-olds travelling along Mediterranean, West African Atlantic and Western Balkan routes found nearly half had experienced physical violence. Most accounts involved multiple forms of violence including torture and kidnapping in transit and at border crossings, and some others included reports of forced labour. Libya was the country most frequently identified as the location where abuses occurred. About a tenth of those interviewed who had used the Eastern Mediterranean Route reported having been falsely promised well-paid jobs, safe journeys, or legal travel documents.