Children fleeing the Balkan route towards the EU are often at the mercy of beatings, sexual abuse and other forms of violence by adults, according to a report by the organization Save the Children. There is an “enormous level of violence and a blatant lack of protection for underage refugees in Europe,” said the children’s rights organization on the publication of the report “Wherever we go, someone is harming us”.
The report published today is based on detailed interviews with 48 children aged 13 to 19 in the non-EU countries Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. They had been on the run for an average of four years.
Save the Children holds the European Union primarily responsible for the children’s experiences. “Because Europe’s focus on deterring those arriving, children are exposed to shocking violence from police and border guards – violence that goes unpunished,” said director Ylva Sperling. The EU and governments must act immediately. “They should provide refugee children with access to safe, regulated and legal migration routes.”