At the end of 2023, 47 million people forced to flee were children. People aged 15-24 also constitute a large proportion of the population affected by forced displacement. Many will spend their entire childhoods away from home, sometimes separated from their families, and losing out on education and many other opportunities.
Unaccompanied and separated children (UASC) are one of the most vulnerable categories arriving in Serbia within the mixed movement of refugees and migrants.
In 2024, UASC constituted around 9% of total arrivals in Serbia. The majority were boys, on average 16-17 years old, originating from Syria, but also from Afghanistan, Egypt and other countries.
The reasons for leaving their countries of origin are usually armed conflicts, forced recruitment and poverty, amongst other reasons, according to UNHCR’s information collected from direct contact with children.
In addition to the difficulties that inevitably bring them to an unsafe path, leaving their country, separation from family, etc. These children are exposed to many risks including smuggling, human trafficking, abuse, sexual harassment, labour and other forms of exploitation, discrimination, and other types of violence.
UNHCR is committed to ensuring that children, adolescents and youth are protected from harm and that their rights are upheld through the provision of psychosocial support and targeted programmes to meet their specific protection and developmental needs. We work with families, communities, national authorities, other international and local organisations, and with children, adolescents and youth themselves.
UNHCR places special focus on education of refugee children. For more information, see UNHCR report Coming Together for Refugee Education.
Refugee and migrant children in Serbia have access to all levels of education. This is provided for in the Constitution and the national law, and Serbia was one of the first countries that started enrolling refugee and migrant children into schools in early 2016.
The line ministry developed special Instructions for inclusion of refugee children into regular education, and as a result, refugee and migrant children have been attending classes together with their Serbian peers. Most of them are attending primary schools, and a certain number are also attending secondary education.
According to the Family Law of Serbia, guardianship authorities take all decisions about all children who are unaccompanied and separated in the territory of the Republic of Serbia. Guardianship authority lies with local social welfare centers which are located in almost every municipality in Serbia. Guardians are appointed to directly protect the best interest of the children and ensure and coordinate response to their needs in line with their best interest vis-à-vis all relevant service providers.
In recent years, UNHCR and its national partner IDEAS invested efforts into strengthening the national refugee and asylum-seeking child protection system, notably through the project “Strengthening Child Protection and Inclusion of Refugee Children in Serbia”. The non-binding Guidelines, based on the Serbian legal framework and the relevant international instruments, were developed in cooperation with the Ministry and it supported implementation from the very start. In late 2020, the Ministry has mainstreamed the Guidelines into the national child protection system and continues close collaboration with UNHCR.
In 2022, out of 2,688 UASC identified (most of whom were boys), 1,048 children received guardianship service.
In 2023, 2,292 UASC were identified (most of whom were boys), while in 2024 these figures were respectively lower.
According to the line Ministry, Social Welfare Centres in 2024 appointed legal guardians to 1,829 children from Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt, Morocco, etc. Like past years, a significant number of unaccompanied children were boys. Professional guardians also play a vital role in supporting UASC enter the asylum procedure, as well as any regular migration pathways, and refer UASC to Red Cross for family tracing services.
UNHCR continues to work with a variety of national stakeholders towards inclusion of refugee and asylum-seeking children into tertiary education.
In line with its strategic objectives, UNHCR continues to expand its contacts with educational institutions at all levels, seeking also to engage youth organizations and UN Volunteers to increase outreach to young people.
For more information for refugee and asylum-seeking children see UNHCR Serbia HELP page.