European Parliament resolution on the need for EU action on search and rescue in the Mediterranean
After recurring tragic loss of life in the Mediterranean, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for a new EU-wide search and rescue mission. In the recent shipwreck of 14 June 2023, when a fishing boat sank in the Ionian Sea off the coast of Pylos, Messenia, Greece an estimated 750 persons were onboard, of whom 104 were rescued, with 82 bodies having been recovered and the rest missing, presumed dead.
According to UNICEF, during the first half of the year, 289 boys and girls died while crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe, or double the number compared to the same period in 2022.
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The European Union Agency for Asylum 2022 report
The European Union Agency for Asylum – EUAA published its flagship report: Asylum in Europe in 2022: A Year in Review.
The report cites over 1 000 sources and combines both qualitative analyses and quantitative data in order to provide an authoritative resource for both practitioners and policy makers. It features a section on Children and people with special needs in the asylum procedure (section 5). More specifically, section 5.6.1 provides data on unaccompanied minors. According to the report in 2022, 42,000 applications for asylum were lodged by unaccompanied minors across EU+ countries (EU27 + Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland), which was the most since 2016. This represented an increase of three-fifths from the previous year, slightly exceeding the growth in total applications (+53%).
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Fundamental Rights report 2023 by European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights has published the Fundamental Rights report 2023.
Chapter 8 of the report, p. 207 features the topic of the rights of children in migration. According to the report, 222,100 children applied for asylum in the EU27 in 2022, whereas 167,495 applied in 2021. In 2022, the highest numbers of applications were submitted in Germany (81,210), France (34,070), Austria (22,190) and Spain (20,580). There was also a substantial increase in asylum requests from unaccompanied children with 39,520 applications in 2022. In 2021 there were 25,130 such applications.
In addition, a separate chapter of the report (Chapter 1, p.4) focuses on the fundamental rights implications for the EU of the War in Ukraine.
FRA offers a free online courses, including courses on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and a course on Guardianship for unaccompanied children. For more information visit the e-learning centre of FRA.
Full report