Some 3,500 children have killed or missing in the last ten years, one per day, trying to cross the central Mediterranean between North Africa and Italy, according to a report published on Tuesday, April 15 by UNICEF.
UNICEF is based on the proportion of children among people who have reached the European soil migration, one in six, reported to 20,800 people who died or lack in the last ten years.
This figure could be underestimated because many shipwrecks go unnoticed, due to lack of survivors to testify.
Flee from war and violence
In addition, seven out of ten children travel alone, without their parents, according to the UN Agency, who takes care of the children.
“Many children trying to cross the war of the central Mediterranean, conflicts, violence and poverty,” the report said, adding that “more than half of the children and young people interviewed say they have suffered physical violence and a third claim to have been arrested against their will.”
“Governments must protect the rights and the best interests of children (…). The rights dedicated by the Convention on the Rights of the Child do not stop at the borders or in the coasts, they accompany children when they cross them,” said Regina de Dominicis, Superior Official of UNICEF, cited in the report.
The UN Agency recalls that if the adoption of the European Pact on migration and asylum that has to enter into force in mid -2016 “can better organize migration management, the latter must be implemented in perfect compliance with the legal obligations of defense of the best interests of the child.”
UNICEF also calls to strengthen research and rescue operations in the sea, taking into account the specific needs of children.
“Upon arriving, each child must immediately benefit from a legal representation and solid protection measures. Travel restriction measures should never allow the detention of a child in a detention center, either during control, border approval procedures, asylum or dismissal,” concludes UNICEF.
Source: BFM TV
