A pro-democracy protest gone awry after the arrest and torture of teenagers set the spark that began the civil unrest in Syria that now effects most of continental Europe. A simple objective of removing an autocratic leader from power led to the chain reaction of unrest consisting of chemical warfare, war crimes, and rebellion. Leading to the internal displacing of nearly 11,000,000 civilians within Syria, many found themselves relocated to surrounding countries as refugees. A picture of with turmoil, panic, and desperation, many refugees find themselves at a loss to find stable living conditions in outside countries while the U.N struggles to cope with the overbearing reception of refugees. Though many refugees find them self at a loss to keep their family together has been a median in the crisis, few have anticipated the magnitude of unaccompanied minors left behind in the impressions of the recent calamity.

A great deal of focus has been brought upon minors who have been separated from relatives or guardians and are left to care for themselves. The reasons for the estrangement of many of these minors span from the unintentional separation of parents and children with packed crowds and fleeing civilians at evacuations, to the intentional abonnement of children with the inability to properly cope with the widespread hysteria and the hope that the children will have a better chance of survival with the separation. Many hope to be reunited with their children after the separation but some unforeseen circumstances that may occur can deplete the likelihood of these children reunited. Often stranded and entirely alone, these children must find a way to survive, despite the understandable struggles that may arise from their eventual seclusion.    Whatever cause serves to be the reason of their separation, many of the minors face the various administrative implications of being left without a means of support or an undocumented identity. Aside from basic necessities that are provided by parents and guardians, these minors could be denied access to government based support while being an undocumented resident, and many young children are unaware of the fact that they may claim asylum, even if they have relatives in the country where they may be forced to flee. Additionally, darker forces come to play as an increasing number of children are left defenseless and vulnerable while left unaccounted for.

According to the European Union’s intelligence agency an estimated 10,000 unaccompanied refugee children have gone missing after their recent arrival into outside countries within Europe. With little information gathered about what has happened to the children that have disappeared, criminal intelligence agencies have kept a close watch to the criminal underground of Europe, which has been suspected of some involvement of the range of disappearances. Without parents or familial connections in their new countries of residence, these children are susceptible to human trafficking syndicates. It has also been reported that many children that have been registered within various other countries, not accounting for those that have gone unregistered, have also gone missing. According to the Save the Children foundation, there have been at least 270,000 children that have been a part of the large scale movement of refugees out of Syria. Of that large scale, there have been an estimated 26,000 of unaccompanied minors throughout Europe. Europol, the European Union law enforcement agency, has confirmed that many of the undocumented migrant children have been sexually exploited during the flux of immigrants into neighboring European countries. As the numbers of refugees seeking asylum have doubled since that last year, the fear of foul play by criminal organizations have gone reasonably grown.  For instance, in countries such as Germany and Hungary, which are typical destinations for refugees, a large number of criminals have been convicted of charges relating to the exploitation of migrants.

With the broadened number of people at potential risk, including children, ministers in the U.K have created a plan to bring Syrian children into the country. An estimated £10m plan to take in unaccompanied Syrian child refugees, Britain plans to formulate an exact number of children that they are capable of granting asylum to. Many of these children will be eligible if they have family members within the UK to ensure that stable placement within a home is readily available. For those without familial ties in the country, access will be granted to those within camps along the Syrian border, as they are considered to be first priority. The plan will help families be reunited with separated children while UNHCR will also work to identify unaccompanied minors and bring them to the U.K. The Home Office , the government department in the U.K responsible for immigration has stated that the European Asylum Support Office will be granted more funds for support, while the whereabouts of the missing children still remain unknown.