Slavery and prostitution among horrors faced by child refugees and migrants after fivefold increase in number of lone minors crossing borders since 2010-11

A record increase in the number of refugee and migrant children travelling alone has left many exposed to sexual abuse and exploitation at the hands of traffickers and opportunists.

At least 300,000 unaccompanied and separated children were recorded in 80 countries in 2015-16, a rise of almost 500% on the 66,000 documented in 2010-2011, according to a Unicef report published on Wednesday.

The central Mediterranean passage is one of several migration routes identified as particularly dangerous for children. More than 75% of the 1,600 14- to 17-year-olds who arrived in Italy reported being held against their will or forced to work.

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“One child moving alone is one too many and yet, today, there are a staggering number of children doing just that – we as adults are failing to protect them,” said Unicef’s deputy executive director, Justin Forsyth.

“Ruthless smugglers and traffickers are exploiting their vulnerability for personal gain, helping children to cross borders, only to sell them into slavery and forced prostitution. It is unconscionable that we are not adequately defending children from these predators.”

The sheer number of migrant and refugee arrivals has left states struggling to cope, with children often falling through the cracks. Border closures, aggressive pushback measures, overcrowded shelters, makeshift camps and heavy-handed authorities have only served to exacerbate the risk of child exploitation, encouraging unaccompanied minors to take highly dangerous routes in a desperate bid to reach their destinations.

One 17-year-old girl from Nigeria told Unicef that she was trapped in Libya for three months and sexually assaulted by her smuggler-turned-trafficker as she attempted to travel alone to Italy.

“Everything [he] said – that we would be treated well and that we would be safe – it was all wrong. It was a lie,” she said of the man who offered to help her. “He said to me if I didn’t sleep with him, he would not bring me to Europe. He raped me.”

Aimamo, 16, and his twin brother reported having to endure two months of forced labour on a farm in Libya in order to pay off their smugglers, a situation he likened to slavery.

“If you try to run, they shoot you and you die. If you stop working, they beat you,” Aimamo told Unicef. “Once, I was just resting for five minutes, and a man beat me with a cane. After working, they lock you inside.”

The boom in global migration has been matched by a massive increase in smugglers, according to Europol. Nearly 90% of migrants irregularly entering Europe in 2015 did so with the help of a smuggler. The agency reported a jump of nearly 20,000 suspected smugglers between January 2016 and January 2017.

Children who become trapped by smuggling networks are sometimes put to work recruiting new victims in order to reduce their debts or end their own abuse, the report warned, especially if they have been exploited sexually.

Many of the Unicef report’s findings echo a Harvard University study on migrant children in Greece (pdf), published by Harvard University earlier this year, which warned that “children gravitate towards dangerous and illegal activities to pay smugglers, including theft, drug dealing and transactional sex”.

With a G7 summit taking place in Italy later this month, Unicef is calling on all governments to give refugee and migrant children better protection by adopting a six-point agenda. The proposals include ending the detention of under-18s, keeping families together and combating discrimination.

“These children need a real commitment from governments around the world to ensure their safety throughout their journeys,” said Forsyth.

Unicef has urged the British government to change its immigration rules on family reunion so that children can join relatives in the UK. This would eliminate the need to take dangerous journeys to Europe.

“This shows the need for the UK government to do more to ensure that refugee and migrant children are safe and protected when trying to reach the UK,” said Lily Caprani, deputy executive director of Unicef UK.

“We must build upon the work done to bring children to safety from Calais last year and improve our rules on family reunion. By making it possible for children to safely reach their family members in the UK from countries of origin and transit, our government could stop the need for these dangerous journeys to Europe.”

Unaccompanied and separated children comprised 92% of all children arriving in Italy by sea in 2016, said Unicef. The report added that 170,000 unaccompanied children applied for asylum in Europe from 2015-16.

George Graham, Save the Children’s director of conflict and humanitarian policy, said: “Children fleeing violence, persecution and poverty are taking huge risks in search of safety … it is vital that the EU urgently establishes safe and legal routes which offer children the chance to find sanctuary, rather than being forced to make deadly journeys, often completely alone.”