300,000 Child Refugees and Migrants Traveled Alone in ’15 and ’16, U.N. Says
By RICK GLADSTONEMAY 17, 2017
UNITED NATIONS — The number of children traveling by themselves among documented refugees
and migrants has nearly quintupled to the highest on record, and many of them are at risk from smugglers, sex traffickers and other predators, the United Nations said in a report published on Wednesday.
Italy has been the principal entry point for refugees and migrants making the treacherous Mediterranean crossing from Africa, and the United Nations report said roughly 90 percent of children undertaking
that voyage were traveling alone — mostly from Egypt, Eritrea, Gambia, Guinea and Nigeria.
The report urged the Group of 7 participants, which will include President Trump, to strengthen protections for child refugees, including by ending their detention at border crossings, finding ways to keep families together
and combating the "discrimination, xenophobia and stigma" that often victimizes uprooted children.
We lack an enormous amount of data." Mr. Forsyth said the release of the report was timed to come ahead of the Group of 7 summit meeting on May 26
and 27 in Taormina, Sicily, where the refugee and migrant crisis will be an important topic.
In a telephone interview, Mr. Forsyth said the report documented not only a rapid rise in the number of unaccompanied children
but also "a lot more abuse" by traffickers and members of organized crime who exploit them.