Points out the lack of attention the international community has given the problems experienced by separated child-asylum seekers. Even though reliable statistical data is unavailable, it appears that growing numbers of separated children are attempting to seek asylum in North America and Western Europe. Like adults, children are escaping from war, persecution, and ethnic conflicts. Due to increasingly stringent immigration controls, asylum seekers have been forced to rely on smugglers and traffickers. State intervention in the plight of separated children is inconsistent in countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, as well as contradictory due to the tensions between the enforcement of immigration laws and the protection of the welfare of the separated children. (IP)
