Presents the guidelines for dealing with unaccompanied children seeking asylum promulgated by the United Nations High Commissioners for Refugees (UNHCR). These guidelines are to be applied in conjunction with the UNHCR Guidelines on Refugee Children and are to promote awareness of the special needs of unaccompanied children and their rights as reflected in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The UNHCR considers it imperative to ensure that effective protection and assistance is delivered to unaccompanied children in a systematic, comprehensive, and integrated way and envisions the close cooperation of a variety of government bodies, specialized agencies, and individuals in delivering an effective continuum of care and protection. The recommendations of the guidelines include: definitions, access to territory by children, identification procedures and initial actions, access to asylum procedures, interim care of children, refugee status determination, and creation of durable solutions. The basic guiding principle in any child care and protection action is the “best interests of the child.”
