A/HRC/33/53 unaccompanied minors face detention,14 deportation and violence.15 National authorities treat illegal entry into the country as a crime rather than as mere violation of administrative regulations. 36. During the first nine months of 2015, more than 200,000 children applied for asylum in European Union countries.16 Some did not reach their destination. In the same year, nearly 700 children are believed to have died crossing the Mediterranean Sea.17 Each day, 700 children arrive Europe, many of them exhausted and distressed and some in need of medical assistance.18 In the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the number of unaccompanied children and adolescents increased six-fold, from 932 in August to 5,676 in October 2015. In the first months of 2015, more than 23,000 unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents applied for asylum in Sweden alone19 and more than 30,000 were expected to apply in Germany by the end of 2015. 37. Most European States bordering the Mediterranean Sea are countries of both transit and destination. For example, in 2014 a total of 14,243 unaccompanied migrant children landed in Italy, of whom 3,707 absconded after landing and 10,536 were hosted in centres organized by local municipalities charged with providing reception. Up until August 2015, a total of 8,944 unaccompanied migrant children arrived in Italy. According to IOM, between January and July 2015 a total of 5,459 unaccompanied migrant children entered the country, 27 per cent (1,467) of them coming from West Africa (Gambia, Nigeria, Mali and Senegal). 38. In October 2015, 3,125 migrant deaths and missing migrants in the Mediterranean Sea were recorded, of whom 40 per cent were of unknown origin, nearly 32 per cent were from sub-Saharan Africa and 11 per cent from the Horn of Africa. 39. In Belgium, owing to a lack of reception places, children used to be housed in hotels with little assistance, in inappropriate reception structures or in adult shelters. In 2013 and 2014, however, there were enough places to accommodate unaccompanied children since – additional facilities were created, but especially since there was also a decrease in the number of asylum seekers. Nonetheless, since May 2015 there has been a sharp increase in the number of migrant children, putting the reception network under pressure once more. 40. In the midst of the biggest flow of migration in Latin America, Mexico is a country of origin, transit, destination and return. Among the migrants are children of Mexican and other origins intending to enter the United States of America and non-Mexican children who view Mexico as country of destination. In recent years, the arrival and irregular movement of children and adolescents in Mexico, mainly from Central American countries, has increased enormously.20 According to the UNICEF office in Mexico, the number of unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents who were detected by Mexican immigration authorities increased by 333 per cent from 2013 to 2015.21 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 8 In accordance with article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, migrant children should not be detained. Information provided by the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants. Eurostat. UNHCR. UNICEF, “Protecting children on the move”, briefing note (November 2015). Swedish Migration Agency. According to the National System for Integral Family Development, most children and adolescents who are in transit or in an irregular migration situation in Mexico were adolescent males with basic education. UNICEF Mexico.