A new report from the House of Lords EU Home Affairs Sub-Committee reveals that child refugees who are in Europe without their parents are being failed by European Governments including the UK.

The Committee describes failures to ensure the children have adequate living conditions in reception camps saying some children face “squalor, destitution and desperation”. Access to legal advice, healthcare and education is also inconsistent across the EU according to the Committee’s findings.

Overstretched resources are fostering a culture of disbelief where teenagers with no identity documents are assessed to be over 18 by officials reluctant to take on the greater expense of caring for a child. This leaves them without the extra protection they need and are entitled to.

Failure to implement rules about reuniting children with their families and delays in processing asylum claims are also “contributing to an increased vulnerability of unaccompanied migrant children to smugglers, traffickers and organised crime”.

The Committee is particularly scathing of the lack of action taken by EU countries, including the UK, following Europol reports that at least 10,000 migrant children having gone missing since arriving in Europe (including many in the UK) saying: “The disappearance of an unaccompanied migrant child is in many cases the final consequence of the failures and omissions by Member State authorities outlined in this report. We deplore the failure by EU Member States, including the United Kingdom, to take urgent action following the announcement of Europol’s latest figures, which showed a further rise in disappearances.”

Children who are separated from their parents and in a foreign country are extremely vulnerable. The failure of Governments across the EU to provide the necessary protection is putting many children at risk of further exploitation and human trafficking and must be addressed urgently.

One of the Committee’s recommendations is that all unaccompanied migrant children in England and Wales should be provided with a specialist guardian to accompany and advocate for them (something already available in Scotland and in development in Northern Ireland). The Modern Slavery Act 2015 contains a measure to provide this kind of support to trafficked children (independent child trafficking advocates) but, despite a positive trial, the Government is continuing to delay rolling out this support across the whole of England and Wales. Today’s report emphasises the importance of getting this scheme up and running as soon as possible as well as the need to consider a wider application.