Children In Exile Exploring The Situation Of Eritrean Unaccompanied Refugee Children In Ethiopia -the Case Of Mai-ayni Refugee Camp Northern Ethiopia

It is estimated that unaccompanied children constitute 2-5 percent of the refugee population.rnThough every refugee is exposed to various human rights violations and risks, unaccompaniedrnrefugee children stand at greater risk of all. Recently, Eritrean unaccompanied children are fleeingrninto Ethiopia and live in different refugee camps found in the Northern part. Nonetheless, a studyrnabout this group of refugees is very limited. Thus, this study is aimed at exploring the situation ofrnthese children in Ethiopia through the case study of Mai-Ayni refugee camp from a human rightsrnperspective. It particularly tries to look at the reasons for departure, the journey process withrnparticular reference to decision to leave, journey arrangement and challenges/risks during journey,rnthe situation of the children once they arrived in Mai-Ayni refugee camp and their futurity in termsrnof a durable solution. Qualitative methods were employed to explore the situations of the children.rnIn doing so, the data were gathered through in-depth interview with unaccompanied refugeernchildren, key informants interview, FGD, personal observation and document analysis. Results ofrnthis study reveal that the children have fled to Ethiopia because of fear of the ongoing forcedrnmilitary conscription, economic problem, educational problem, family reunification, peer pressurernand hope of resettlement and transit into other state. The study also shows that most ofrnunaccompanied refugee children decide to leave Eritrea by themselves without the knowledge ofrntheir parents and some by the decision of their parents using the service of brokers/smugglers.rnFurther, results indicate that the children experience terrible challenges to escape from Eritrearnprincipally caused by strong military surveillance on the Eritrean government side which operatesrnon “shoot-to-kill policy” to those fleeing the state. Moreover, the results of this study show thatrnchildren are afforded with basic facilities such as food, education, health and psycho-social supportrnin Mai-Ayni refugee camp. In addition the children are assigned with social worker as guardiansrnand enjoy the rights to participation in a child parliament. However, they are affected byrndepression, longing and nostalgia for their parents and anxiety about the future. Durable solutionsrnthat end the children stress and anxiety are rather scarce, with only one option-resettlement. Thisrnsituation makes the futurity of the children invisible and problematic. Consequently, unaccompaniedrnrefugee children involve into secondary movement to Sudan and through this route to Libya andrnfinally reach Europe. During this second journey, the children are exposed to a multitude of humanrnrights violation including sexual abuse to female children, sometimes extending to males, forcedrnlabor and other psychical damage

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