Egyptian Unaccompanied Migrant Children provides a comprehensive assessment of the phenomenon of irregular Egyptian child migration to Europe. Addressing the significant information gap on the issue, and based on IOM counselling interviews in Egypt and Greece, this report first provides insight into the modus operandi and characteristics of smuggling networks operating from Egypt, and highlights the vulnerabilities of children using the respective smuggling services to reach Europe. Subsequently, the driving forces for irregular child migration from Egypt are analysed, before elaborating on vulnerabilities of unaccompanied migrant children (UMCs) and protection gaps upon arrival in the destination country, with particular reference to the field assessment conducted in Greece. The report concludes by providing recommendations for policy and programming to address the special protection concerns of UMCs based on the analysis of migratory dynamics and vulnerability assessments. These recommendations cover services and activities in the areas of prevention, protection, prosecution and partnership for the development of an integrated multidisciplinary response to address irregular migration of UMCs in a holistic manner.
In 2014, Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) programmes globally required the direct involvement of 70 International Organization for Migration (IOM) offices in host countries and 170 countries of origin to assist 43,786 migrants to voluntarily return and reintegrate. This represents a slight decrease in comparison to 2013, where IOM assisted 46,233 migrants to return to their countries of origin in a humane and dignified manner.