News Center - Save the Children has released a report entitled, “Violence against refugee and migrant children arriving in Europe through the Balkans”. The report reveals that refugee and migrant children are subjected to different types of violence, sexual abuse and exploitation. The report also points out that the policies and practices of the European Union and national governments in Balkan countries have sought to deter refugee and migrant arrivals in Europe.

Children make up about one-third of all refugees and migrants arriving in Europe

“Children, including thousands of unaccompanied and separated children, make up about one-third of all refugees and migrants arriving in Europe. A significant percentage of these children come through the Balkans route, travelling through countries including Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina,” the report says that about half a million refugees and other migrants, mainly from South, Central and Western Asia, crossed the countries on the Balkans route only in 2015.

Children are subjected to physical violence

The research was conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, key transit countries on the threshold of the European Union and on the way to Western Europe.It is based on in-depth interviews with 48 children aged between 13 and 19 years old. According to the report, the most common violence reported by children was physical violence by border police officers. Interviewed children describe being stripped naked, forced to stand in the cold, and being given electric shocks and beatings with sticks, which led to serious physical injuries such as fractures or severe contusions.

They are subjected to violence by smugglers

“Although no interviewed child said that they had been a victim of sexual abuse themselves, almost two-thirds listed one or more incidents where they recognised or witnessed sexual abuse of a child in their immediate environment, including the violent separation of girls or boys that smugglers then abused sexually,” the report says. Children travelling with families are exposed to this kind of violence, as well as unaccompanied children. However, children interviewed in the research predominantly talked about unaccompanied boys as the victims of sexual abuse happening along the journey.

The interviewed children said they had to travel in overloaded cars, sleep in the woods where they are at risk from wild animal attacks, and stay in squats where they are threatened with abuse.

Several respondents reported harmful coping strategies, including alcohol and drug abuse, self-harm and suicidality.

In the report, Save the Children calls for immediate action through a set of recommendations for governments, organizations that work with refugees and migrants, and researchers, to strengthen the support available to children on the move and protect them from violence.