Migrant children making the dangerous journey to Europe as they seek to break free of a life of conflict or poverty face the threat of rape, forced labour and beatings as well as the risk of drowning in the Mediterranean, aid agency UNICEF says. Child migrants account for an increasing percentage of refugees, in particular those trying to reach Italy by sea from Libya UNICEF says in its latest report titled “Danger Every Step of the Way”. Of the near quarter million people who arrived in Europe by Sea this year, nearly one in three was a child.
“Every step of the journey is fraught with danger, all the more so for the nearly one in four children traveling without a parent or guardian,” UNICEF said.
The ratio was much greater on boats arriving from Libya where 90 per cent of children were unaccompanied.
UNICEF said that there was “strong evidence that criminal human trafficking networks were targeting the most vulnerable, in particular women and children. Italian social workers claim that both boys and girls are sexually assaulted and forced into prostitution while in Libya, and that some of the girls were pregnant when they arrived in Italy, having been raped,”
UNICEF says many of the children have been failed by the asylum systems which have become dramatically overstretched, however their cases should be a priority.
“All too often children are held behind bars – in detention facilities or in police custody – because of a lack of space in child protection centers and limited capacity for identifying alternative solutions,” it said.
Extremely worried
Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein the U.N.’s human rights chief has said he is extremely worried by the rise in migrant in Greece and Italy. Mr. Hussein has urged authorities to avoid confining children whilst their asylum requests were being processed. It can take as many as two years for authorities to evaluate a child’s asylum request. Once they reach Europe, refugees and migrants are often housed in former military barracks, sports halls or other temporary shelters. Children often have no access to schooling or emotional support.
