Hundreds of migrant children ‘face abuse at European borders’

Hundreds of unaccompanied minors are facing violence and abuse as they travel across EU borders, and being illegally rejected from entering some countries, says the Save the Children charity.

The children move on foot, hide under trucks or on trains, or are transported by smugglers – more often than not at night – through forests and over mountains like the so-called ‘Pass of Death between Italy and France.

Save the Children says there are countless cases of unaccompanied minors and families describing atrocities they have suffered or witnessed, especially along the Balkans route. Children who say that they have been robbed, beaten, forced to undress themselves, detained and subjected to violence.

These appalling rights violations are included in Hidden in Plain Sight, a new report by the charity based on interviews with migrant children in Italy and organisations that support them, along the route at Italian border crossings at Oulx, Ventimiglia, Udine and Trieste. Save the Children collected the testimonies ahead of World Refugee Day.

‘The EU continues to close its eyes to the violence migrants face’

The children’s testimonies were collected by Save the Children together with journalist Daniele Biella.

Abdel*, 18, who travelled to Europe from Pakistan, described what he experienced: “I often see the police violence in the woods of Croatia in my dreams. One time, they made us walk non-stop uphill for hours, while beating us. One policeman enjoyed it; others told him to stop but he went on. Another time they forced us to undress and threw us into a freezing river. […]  One of us was beaten on the head and died on the spot. He died and they took him and threw him into the river, we did not find his body.”

Save the Children is demanding that Europe protects these children from violence and other forms of abuse, and provides them with safe passages. It is also calling on Italy and the European institutions to provide effective and independent monitoring of borders, along with humanitarian support for communities along the border. During the European Council of 24 and 25 June, which already has ‘migration’ on the agenda, the protection of the migrant  children’s rights ‘should be front and centre’, it adds.

On their way to Europe and through the Balkans, children told how they are constantly exposed to the risk of accidents, trafficking, psychological and physical abuse – also by institutions that should be there to protect them.

Once in Italy, children and their families continue to be rejected at borders with France, which especially for unaccompanied children is illegal.

Raffaela Milano, Director of Save the Children’s Europe Programmes in Italy, said: “Every day and every night, they cross the borders of the Member States of the European Union which continues to close its eyes to the violence that migrants are forced to endure.”

In April alone, 107 unaccompanied children entered Italy via the Balkans route, and were taken in by the Italian protection system. Just weeks later 24 of them continued their onward journey, only to be pushed back by French border police.

In Menton, France, children were reportedly locked up in containers, and their date of birth was changed so they could be brought back to Italy. Until just recently in Trieste, Italian police were said to have been treating minors as adults so they could be pushed back to the Slovenian side of the border.

Italian police ‘treating minors as adults’

At the end of April 2021 there were 6,633 registered unaccompanied foreign girls and boys in Italy alone. The overall number is likely to be much higher, as not all children are registered. Unaccompanied minors are mostly male, but there are also girls traveling alone, especially from West African countries. The charity says these young people are at ‘high risk’ of falling victim to trafficking and exploitation. In the absence of legal and safe routes, children and adolescents are forced to cross dangerous mountain paths at night, live in hardship, or trust the smugglers and anyone who promises them help to cross borders.

“With this report in hand you can no longer say ‘we didn’t know’,” added Raffaela Milano.

“European Member States can and should manage these flows of vulnerable children; not just in the name of solidarity, but also to seize the opportunity and make these children a valuable part of society. The EU must ensure that its member states adopt and implement policies aimed at ensuring the protection of unaccompanied children at the external and internal borders of Europe, including through schooling and trainings.”

Abdel* is one of many who talk about the game, as the boys call it, the cruel ‘game’ of crossings between borders. They are often rejected several times at the external borders of the European Union, or face chain rejections across multiple borders.

Dubravka Vranjanac, Emergency Response Team Leader of Save the Children for Bosnia and Herzegovina, said: “Since the beginning of the migration crisis in 2015 we have supported the most vulnerable, especially unaccompanied children and minors in Greece and Serbia. But since 2018, with the deterioration of the humanitarian situation, we have also started to work in Bosnia and Herzegovina: we provide child protection, we train people and support educational activities. At the same time, we do intensive advocacy to make sure children’s needs are the priority in the emergency.”