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<p>The Government is not in a position to comment on the number or needs of unaccompanied
children in particular countries. All asylum seeking children who arrive in the UK
and are unaccompanied are referred to a local authority. Those local authorities hold
responsibility for assessing their needs and providing services based on the outcome
of the assessment.</p><p>The Government is clear about our moral responsibility to
assist those who are suffering as a result of conflict and recognises that those fleeing
persecution have a legal entitlement to protection. We worked with the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) to design and launch the ‘Children at Risk’ resettlement scheme.
On the UNHCR’s recommendation, the scheme will not target unaccompanied children alone,
but will be extended to all ‘Children at Risk’ as defined by the UNHCR who are in
the Middle East and North Africa. We have committed to resettling several hundred
individuals in the first year with a view to resettling up to 3,000 individuals over
the lifetime of this Parliament, the majority of whom will be children.</p><p>As stated
above, we cannot comment on the number of children in other countries. However, figures
on asylum applications for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) in the UK
are published quarterly by the Home Office in the Immigration Statistics release.
A copy of the latest release, Immigration Statistics October to December 2015, is
available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2015.</p><p>There
were 142 applications for asylum from UASCs, excluding dependants, for nationals of
Sudan during 2015. No such applications were received from nationals of South Sudan
in 2015. UNHCR have published statistics on estimated numbers of children in countries,
including South Sudan. These can be found at: http://data.unhcr.org/SouthSudan/regional.php.</p>
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