Children on the Run
The UN refugee agency is concerned at the increasing numbers of children in the Americas forced from their homes and families, propelled by violence, insecurity and abuse in their communities and at home.
The Children on the Run report calls on governments to take action to keep children safe from human rights abuses, violence and crime, and to ensure their access to asylum and other forms of international protection.
"With violence and insecurity permeating the Americas region, we found a strong link between this unabated situation, new displacement patterns and the children's reasons for leaving their homes and families to flee northward. They escaped armed actors, generalized and targeted violence in their communities and abuse in their homes," said Shelly Pitterman, UNHCR regional representative in the United States.
The report analyzes the humanitarian impact this insecurity has had on children, forcing them across international borders to seek safety on their own. It unveils the humanitarian impact of the situation through interviews with more than 400 unaccompanied children from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico held in US federal custody.
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