UNICEF: 300,000 refugee children traveling unaccompanied

The UN children’s agency says there are more than 300000 unaccompanied minors travelling with people seeking refuge across the world.

UNICEF said nearly 170000 children have sought asylum in Europe, while some 100-thousand other have been counted at the US-Mexican border. According to the UN agency, another 90-thousand are displaced across eastern Africa. UNICEF said the figure was recorded in a two-year period and it marked a dramatic escalation that has forced some young refugees into slavery and prostitution. It added that the number of children traveling alone has increased nearly five times since 2010. Conflicts in the Middle East and Africa are blamed for the mass refugee influx into Europe and beyond. The continent is currently in the midst of its worst refugee crisis since the end of the Second World War, with more than one million arrivals recorded last year alone.