106,000 children applied for asylum in Europe: UNICEF

Imagine a child living thousands of kilometers away from everybody they once loved or even knew in a country where they are not wanted and don’t even speak the language. According to UNICEF since the beginning of the year, some 106,000 children have applied for asylum in Europe.

Children under the age of ten usually arrive with family members, but the number of minors arriving at EU borders unaccompanied has spiked since the beginning of the year. Some of them have been separated from their guardians on the grueling journey, others have been orphaned by conflicts in their home countries while many have been sent by their families with hopes of making new lives and later sending money back or even help in legally bringing the rest of the family to Europe.

The continent is currently facing a huge refugee crisis with thousands of asylum seekers attempting entry through its borders. According to the European Union’s border agency, well over 500,000 refugees have reached the EU borders.

On Saturday, tens of thousands of asylum seekers reached Austria. They were initially sent to Hungary by Croatia, which said it was already overwhelmed by the 20,000 that had arrived last Wednesday.

According to Austrian police, around 9,000 people had passed through border from Hungary; about 5,000 at Heiligenkreuz, near the city of Graz, and 4,000 at Nickelsdorf near Vienna.  Some 10,000 more were expected to pass through before the day’s end, police said.

Before the throng of refugees started to pour through Greece into Hungary, Italy was the favored destination for human smugglers and their cargo.

The state-run BBC carried out an investigation into the plight of refugee children who thought they were traveling to a better place. According to the investigation, the children were apparently wrong.

A vast number of the young refugees were exploited as soon as they set foot on Italy’s shores. In southern Italy kids equal business.Reception centers are paid up to €75 a day for the expenses of child refugees. Local Italian authorities, who have been overwhelmed by the imposing number of fresh arrivals, have little control of the kids' plight.

According to regulations, the children are permitted to leave the centers during the day and only have to check in at night. During their time out of the centers, they frequently fall prey to people wishing to exploit them and even organized crime syndicates, says Fabio Sorgoni who works for the Italian charity On The Road.

He added that since conditions are so bad at the centers, which usually do not even have translators that speak the children’s languages, the children flee the centers and end up living on the streets, forced to do whatever it takes to survive.

"I did it to avoid doing what other boys I know here are doing - having sex with Italian men. I've seen it with my own eyes. Boys - Egyptian, Tunisian, and Moroccan - ask men for €50, even for €30," said Khaled, a 14-year-old refugee.

A young Egyptian by the name of Hamid, who sleeps in buses and washes himself in public fountains, said that he calls his mother every week and lies to her about his situation.  

"We came here thinking we would go to school, have somewhere safe to sleep, find a job - but it's not like that. Some of us work for a pittance in the markets, some sell drugs, others sell themselves. Once they've done it two or three times, they don't care anymore. If I'd known this I never would have come here," Hamid said.

The situation for refugees, especially minors, is the same all over Europe. Even though International and EU legislations exist to prevent such events, the most vulnerable group, children, seem to be falling through the cracks.    

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