ABSTRACT
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR 2005) estimates that there are approximately 11.5 million refugees who have been dislocated from their homelands because of famine, civil wars, religious persecution, or ethnic cleansing. Nearly half of these refugees are children. The term “unaccompanied minor” (UAM) refers to persons under the legal age of majority who are not being cared for by any adult. The term includes minors who are with minor siblings or in informal foster families (UNHCR 1997). Africa, which has 12 percent of the world’s population, also has 28 percent of the world’s refugees, the largest number of refugees in the world.
