Child migrants in Serbia forced to sell sex to survive

TMP – 25/03/2017

According to the UN Refugee Agency, there are currently around 7,700 migrants living in Serbia, with around 1,100 people, mainly Afghans, sheltering in abandoned warehouses in Belgrade.

The NGO Save the Children estimates that about 10 percent of the migrants in Serbia are unaccompanied minors. Many of these child migrants come from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq or Syria and are now stuck in Serbia, unable to continue their journeys to Western Europe because of snow and closed borders.

With no money left and desperate to survive, many of the migrant boys are visited at the warehouses by Serbian men who offer to pay them for sex.

“They come here and target the foolish ones. They ask how much money you need. They pay and they go, but they do bad things with them,” explained Navid, a 16-year-old boy from Afghanistan. Navid said some men offer up to 2,000 euros ($2,114) to have sex with the boys.

However, Navid’s Afghan friend, Ali, said he did not blame the boys who are forced to sell their bodies in order to survive. “They sleep hungry for nights here. It is cold, they have nothing, no money and they feel they have to do it,” the 16-year-old said.

Ali said his journey has so far cost him 9,500 euros ($10,040) and that he was beaten by smugglers in Bulgaria, forced to eat leaves and drank dirty water to survive.

The two teenage boys said the warehouse was their only choice. They fear being deported if they looked for shelter at state-run migrant centres.

Aid agency CARE International is concerned about the number of migrants being exploited in Serbia. Sumka Bucan, director of the group’s humanitarian operations in the Balkans blames poor living conditions outside of official camps as well as deportation fears for pushing many desperate migrants into the hands of smugglers and human traffickers.

“It’s a very lucrative business and they are exploiting people, but it seems like it’s the only option for the migrants,” she said.