Of the 1.2 million refugees and migrants who applied for asylum in Europe in 2015, nearly 350,000 were children – many of them minors without their parents. Britain has said it will take in some unaccompanied refugee children from Syria, north Africa and other conflict areas, but did not say how many. This is in addition to the 20,000 Syrian refugees the government has pledged to take in by 2020.
Migrants and refugees have had to brave temperatures as low as minus 15 degrees Celsius (5F) to cross frozen Balkan borders en route to western Europe, visibly unprepared for winter and in increasing danger from the cold. Men, women and children covered in blankets have been forced to sleep rough in tents or next to bonfires in the open. Save the Children said that women, children and babies are in danger of contracting hypothermia.
Migrants have been arriving in Serbia with blue lips, distressed and shaking from the cold. Exhausted mothers have told the group's aid workers they are unable to keep their babies warm and dry, and that some have slipped while carrying them on icy roads. The United Nations and aid agencies have warned that children are at risk of freezing to death given their lack of adequate clothing or access to sufficient nutrition.
A baby girl wrapped in blankets waits with her parents to depart for Croatia at a train station in Presevo, SerbiaMarko Djurica/ReutersA family walks through a snowy landscape in sub-zero temperatures near the Macedonian-Serbian borderMilos Bicanski/Getty ImagesA child cries from the cold at a registration camp in Presevo, SerbiaMarko Djurica/ReutersA toddler with a bottle sleeps next to other refugees and migrants inside a tent as they wait to cross the Greek-Macedonian borderAlexandros Avramidis/ReutersA woman and a child, wrapped in a thermal blanket, wait for a train to Croatia, at a train station in Presevo, SerbiaMarko Djurica/ReutersPeople walk through a frozen field after crossing the border from Macedonia into Serbia, near the village of MiratovacMarko Djurica/ReutersChildren wait in freezing temperatures near the Macedonian-Serbian borderMilos Bicanski/Getty ImagesChildren, sitting on frosty ground, eat soup in a camp near the border between Macedonia and SerbiaMilos Bicanski/Getty ImagesChildren wait for hot food in sub-zero temperatures near the Macedonian-Serbian borderMilos Bicanski/Getty ImagesA child carries his belongings as he waits in line with other migrants and refugees for security checks after crossing the Macedonian border into SerbiaArmend Nimani/AFPA man carrying his baby walks through a muddy field after crossing into Serbia via the Macedonian borderArmend Nimani/AFPA child carrying a loaf of bread holds the hand of a relative after crossing from Macedonia into SerbiaArmend Nimani/AFPMothers push prams through thick mud after crossing into SerbiaMilos Bicanski/Getty ImagesPeople walk through a field covered in snow after crossing the border from Macedonia into SerbiaMarko Djurica/ReutersA Syrian refugee holds her baby next to a bonfire as she waits to cross the Greek-Macedonian borderAlexandros Avramidis/ReutersSyrian refugees rest next to a highway near the village of Thourio in northeastern GreeceAlexandros Avramidis/ReutersA baby sits on the ground as migrants and refugees wait for a bus at a transit camp in the southern Serbian town of PresevoArmend Nimani/AFPA man carries a child at the Grande-Synthe camp, near Dunkirk, where some 2,500 migrants and refugees live, mostly Iraqi Kurds and SyriansPhilippe Huguen/AFPA woman comforts her sleeping child while waiting at a station for a train in the southern Serbian town of PresevoDimitar Dilkoff/AFPA boy waits for a train to leave the town of Presevo in southern SerbiaArmend Nimani/AFPAn Afghan migrant child poses while waiting at a reception centre to receive Serbian papers which will allow them to take a trainMilos Bicanski/Getty ImagesA child waits to receive papers that will allow travel to the Macedonian-Serbian borderMilos Bicanski/Getty ImagesA girl poses with her coat on her head as she waits for a security check after crossing the Macedonian border into SerbiaArmend Nimani/AFPFamilies walk along a snow-covered road near the Macedonian-Serbian borderMilos Bicanski/Getty ImagesA boy is covered with a blanket as he and other refugees and migrants wait to cross the Greek-Macedonian borderAlexandros Avramidis/ReutersA man carrying a child waits in line for a security check near the village of Miratovac in SerbiaArmend Nimani/AFPA Syrian refugee child wearing a lifejacket is pictured moments after arriving on a raft on a beach on the Greek island of LesbosGiorgos Moutafis/ReutersA child runs in a muddy field at a camp of makeshift shelters for migrants and asylum-seekers from Iraq, Kurdistan, Iran and Syria, called the Grande Synthe jungle, near Dunkirk, FranceYves Herman/ReutersMigrants and refugees sleep covered with blankets as they wait to cross the border from Greece into MacedoniaAlexandros Avramidis/Reuters
Many of the people making this arduous journey are fleeing conflict zones such as Syria, Iraq and Yemen, where millions of people are gripped by hunger, struggling to survive with little help from the outside world. Children suffer from severe malnutrition, their parents often having to beg or sell possessions to get basic commodities including water, medicine and fuel. According to the UN children's agency, malnutrition is a major threat for millions of refugees.
