Migration policy
Migration
There are currently over 258 million migrants living outside their country of birth. These include 25 million refugees, fleeing conflict and persecution in their home countries, of whom around half are children. We are working to uphold the rights of migrant and refugee children in the UK and overseas. Through our advocacy to the UK government, we strive to help refugee children reunite with family members in this country. We highlight the needs of refugee and migrant children immediately after arriving in the UK. And, where it is both safe and necessary to do so, we work to ensure that the UK government’s approach to returning the children to their countries of origin, is right-based and child-focused. In all of this work, we aim to ensure that all government decisions and activities affecting refugee and migrant children have the child’s best interests at their centre.
Safe and Sound
A joint report by UNHCR and UNICEF, Safe and Sound provides recommendations to European governments in applying the best interests principle as a primary consideration when dealing with unaccompanied and separated children.
No Place to Call Home
Protecting Children’s Rights When the Changing Climate Forces Them to Flee
Around the world, record numbers of children are on the move – 1 in 45 children have been uprooted from their homes, and are moving across borders or within their own countries in precarious circumstances. Climate-related events and their impacts are contributing significantly to these staggering numbers. As in every crisis, children are the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change that force them from their homes in the first place.
This reports reveals that, despite the enormous risks they face, children have been almost entirely overlooked in the emerging debate, research and policies on climate-driven migration and displacement. It sets out the vital steps that states must take to place children’s rights at the heart of international and national climate, humanitarian, disaster risk reduction, development, and migration strategies.