Leaving home is often a huge leap into the unknown. But it is not uncommon for children to set off on their own, risking their lives by crossing the Mediterranean or the desert, in the hope of surviving. Those who make it to the end of their ordeal usually face tremendous difficulties, even more so when they are minors. Access to healthcare, education and psychological support: these are just some of the challenges that unaccompanied minors endure throughout this gruelling and dangerous migration journey. But who exactly are these unaccompanied minors? And what are their living conditions?
An unaccompanied minor (UM), also known as an unaccompanied foreign minor (UFM), is a child under the age of 18, of foreign nationality, living in the country without a legal representative and temporarily or permanently deprived of the protection of their family (UNICEF France). However, there is no single, standardized legal category: the definition differs depending on the institutions using it (COFRADE).
As children, unaccompanied minors fall primarily under the remit of child protection, rather than immigration law. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child stipulates that every child deprived of their family environment is entitled to special assistance from the State. Departmental council authorities are duty-bound to provide them with material, educational and psychological support from the moment they are taken into care (UNICEF France).
Access to these rights remains unequal. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has called for the introduction of a suspensive appeal in cases where protection is refused, deeming the current lack of such a remedy to be in breach of international law. Administrative and judicial delays can also deprive some young people of six months to three years of schooling (UNICEF France). In October 2025, a UN report documented serious and repeated failures in the care of unaccompanied minor asylum seekers in France (COFRADE).
Access to education is a right guaranteed to every child, regardless of their status. UNICEF France, however, warns of a lack of suitable provision (UPE2A classes) and of referral practices that sometimes limit the educational pathways chosen by the young people themselves (UNICEF France, report “I came here to learn”).
Victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation!
On 11 August 2026, the Spanish Guardia Civil announced the dismantling, in Gran Canaria (Canary Islands), of a criminal network specialising in the recruitment of unaccompanied minors from sub-Saharan Africa for the purposes of sexual exploitation (Afrik.com). The network targeted young girls housed in shelters and protection centres in the Canary Islands, under the care of the Spanish child protection services (allAfrica).
Their modus operandi
Recruiters approached the minors directly in their shelters, luring them with promises of employment. Once convinced, they were transferred to mainland Spain or France, where some were subsequently forced into prostitution (CNews). The investigation was launched following the testimony of a young girl who had initially been taken into care in Gran Canaria and had returned to Spain from France; she told the police she had been recruited on the basis of the same promise of employment (Europe1).
The intervention by the Guardia Civil led to the rescue of two victims and prevented four other minors from leaving their shelters. Five people, including one minor, were arrested following several raids carried out on the island (La Nouvelle Tribune).
