Protection, health and community services staff are taking a multi-sectoral approach to ensure that decisions taken are in the best interests of the children. These efforts are linked to action on a broader range of issues that include the prevention of recruitment of children. While the amended terminology encourages an increased awareness of the potential risks faced by all separated children, their needs can only be addressed to the degree that resources are available. It follows that unaccompanied minors remain the priority in tracing and family reunification activities, in view of the likelihood of their greater vulnerability. The rights and needs of adolescents differ considerably from those of infants and younger children, and range from reproductive health, educational and vocational training, to income-generating opportunities and acquisition of life skills.
Adolescents also face the risks of recruitment into armed groups.
While programmes for adolescent refugees remain inadequate, some progress has been made particularly since the Machel Study. One of the ARC resource packs focuses on adolescents. In Pakistan, the 1999 budget for vocational training was increased in spite of organization-wide budget cuts. Programmes addressing sexual and gender-based violence against adolescent refugee girls are currently under way in Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the United Republic of Tanzania. Projects for young people in the Great Lakes region of Africa, the Horn of Africa and West Africa are currently being developed.