Unaccompanied minors at most risk as refugees amass at EU borders

[unhappycamper]

http://www.france24.com/en/20160309-minors-most-risk-migrants-eu-borders-children-syria-european-union



Young migrants cross between Sweden and Denmark on Novembre 12, 2015.

Unaccompanied minors at most risk as refugees amass at EU borders
Text by Monique El-Faizy
Latest update : 2016-03-09

As the EU struggles to reach a deal with Turkey on halting the flow of migrants and more member states shut their borders, minors – many of them unaccompanied – are among the most vulnerable of the thousands of people amassing at Europe’s frontiers.

Tens of thousands of minors have made the treacherous journey out of their war-torn homelands on their own, without the protection of an adult. These children largely slip through the cracks of a system that humanitarian workers describe as sorely inadequate.

The scale of the problem is difficult to determine because many refugee children never register with the authorities. But the number of those who do wind up in the system is staggering: In January alone, nearly 3,500 unaccompanied minors applied for asylum in Europe, according to data compiled by the European Commission. And this number is increasing, both in absolute terms and as a percentage of all refugees.

Aikaterini Kitidi, a UNHCR spokeswoman on the Greek island of Lesbos told FRANCE 24 that the number of children seeking asylum in Greece – the entry point for most migrants tying to enter the EU – grew in each quarter of 2015. Children now account for more than a third of the migrants arriving in Europe.

[bemildred]

1. I am disgusted. nt