Child migrants in Greece at high risk of sexual exploitation

TMP – 12/05/2017

A growing epidemic of sexual exploitation and abuse of migrant children is taking place in Greek migrant camps, according to a new Harvard report released last month.

The report, entitled “Emergency within an Emergency: The Growing Epidemic of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of Migrant Children in Greece,” found that unaccompanied child migrants in Greece are being forced to sell their bodies in order to pay people smugglers for their onward journey.

The report described abuses in the crowded, makeshift holding camps, which are unstaffed at night, and where lone men and those associated with criminal gangs prey on children who are left unattended.

Older boys and girls are allowed to leave the camps and increasingly engage in prostitution in the hope of saving enough money to pay people smugglers. Drug use increases the danger the child will become trapped in the commercial sex industry, the report said.

Author of the report Dr Vasileia Digidiki said: “This emergency can no longer be ignored. We can no longer sit idle while migrant children are abused and forced to sell their bodies in broad daylight and plain sight in the heart of Athens simply to survive.”

The report found that the average price of a sexual transaction with a child is about USD 16. The largest group of children selling sex are Afghani boys, along with Syrians, Iraqis and Iranians.

Smugglers often charge thousands of dollars, so despite selling sex many children find that the fees charged by smugglers are still beyond their reach.

The report also identified rape and other forms of sexual assault of young children in the camps. This includes an increase in child marriage and blackmail of some children who have been abused and had humiliating photos taken of them.

While the report focuses its attention on Greece, the authors believe that the situation is likely similar in other European countries, such as Serbia and Italy.