A/HRC/36/51 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 29/12, the Human Rights Council requested the Advisory Committee to develop a research-based study on the global issue of unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents and human rights, in which it would identify areas, reasons and cases where this issue arises in the world and the ways in which human rights are threatened and violated, and make recommendations for the protection of the human rights of members of this population, and to submit the report to the Council at its thirtythird session in September 2016. 2. The Advisory Committee submitted a progress report to the Council at its thirtythird session. At the fifteenth session of the Advisory Committee, it established a drafting group for the preparation of the study. The drafting group currently comprises Mario Luis Coriolano, Laura-Maria Crăciunean, Hoda Elsadda, Karla Hananía de Varela (Rapporteur), Obiora Chinedu Okafor, Katharina Pabel, Anatonia Reyes Prado (Chair) and Changrok Soh. The drafting group has had the technical support of Fabio Cano Gómez and the Rene Cassin foundation. 3. In the present report, the Advisory Committee aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the situation of unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents from a human rights perspective, with the aim of assisting States in the fulfilment of their commitments under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other related human rights treaties. It identifies areas of the world and cases where this issue arises, the reasons for them and the ways in which human rights are threatened and violated, recognizing best practices and making recommendations for the protection of the human rights of unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents. 4. The study is based on two methodological tools: documentary research and an ad hoc questionnaire addressed to States, national human rights institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international organizations. 5. In preparing the study, the drafting group drew up questionnaires to seek the views and inputs of Member States, international and regional organizations, relevant special procedure mandate holders and treaty bodies, national human rights institutions, civil society organizations and other relevant stakeholders. A total of 61 responses to the questionnaires were received, comprising 14 responses from States, 36 from NGOs, 10 from national human rights institutions and one from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). II. Main reasons that force or encourage children and adolescents into situations of unaccompanied migration in identified areas 6. Globally, in 2015, 15 per cent of all international migrants were under the age of 20 years. The proportion of young migrants was significantly higher in the developing regions (22 per cent) than in the developed regions (less than 10 per cent). 1 In the same year, children and adolescents constituted more than half of the total refugee population; and more than 100,000 asylum claims were lodged by unaccompanied or separated children. 2 Nearly one in three children and adolescents living outside their country of birth is a refugee; for adults, the proportion coming under the mandate of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is less than 1 in 20. 3 Unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents are a particularly vulnerable group because of their double 1 2 3 United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2016), International Migration Report 2015: Highlights, p. 9. Source: information provided by the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children to the Advisory Committee, 24 February 2017. UNICEF, Uprooted: the Growing Crisis for Refugee and Migrant Children (New York, 2016), p. 6. 3