June 20 marks World Refugee Day, celebrated around the globe to raise awareness about the millions of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), who had to flee their countries due to conflicts and poverty.
The recent years have marked the most large-scale movements of people through the boundaries in almost seven decades.
According to the UNHCR, a total of 65.6 million people have been forcibly displaced around the world.
This number includes 22.5 million refugees, comprising 17.2 million under the UNHCR mandate and 5.3 million Palestinian refugees registered by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
According to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the number of unaccompanied children, as well as of children, who have become refugees and migrants has increased fivefold.
In 2015-2016, about 300,000 unaccompanied children moved to other countries to find asylum there. According to UNICEF, approximately 170,000 children sought asylum in Europe.
At the same time, about 92 percent of boys and girls were unaccompanied, when they arrived in Italy by sea from a number of states, including Eritrea, Gambia, Nigeria, Egypt and Guinea.
