EU: Abuses Against Children Fuel Migration

(Brussels, June 23, 2015) – Large numbers of children from war-torn countries, often traveling alone, are fleeing abuses in their home countries to seek safety in the European Union, Human Rights Watch said today. Many are fleeing recruitment as soldiers, child marriage, and attacks on schools, or escaping other effects of war in Syria and Afghanistan or discrimination against Afghan refugees in Iran. In 2014, over 6,100 asylum-seeking or migrant children were recorded as reaching Greece, the vast majority by sea, according to figures provided to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) by the Greek police and coast guard. Of these, about 1,100 were registered as unaccompanied or traveling without family members. Actual numbers are almost certainly higher, as many children traveling alone claim to be 18 or over to avoid prolonged detention while authorities find space in shelters for unaccompanied children.