Summarizes the problems and risks facing unaccompanied children who are denied refugee status. Their situation is complicated by misleading or inaccurate media reports about clandestine immigration that feed a negative tide of public opinion. During 1999, for example, more than 20,000 separated children applied for asylum in western Europe, North America, or Australia – a mere fraction of those who were driven from their homes worldwide by violence and persecution. While children’s rights are nearly universally recognized, children still face many forms of persecution, including child labor, rape, and forced military recruitment. Thus, it is not surprising that parents try to send their children to safety or that children escape on their own. Guidelines issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) about dealing with unaccompanied children are often not followed: governments rarely appoint suitable guardians for asylum-seeking children, some governments imprison these children, and children are rarely informed of their right to legal representation. Many juveniles go underground when their asylum claims are denied to avoid being sent home. Little is known about their fate, although is clear that these minors are the most vulnerable of all.
