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STORY: UNICEF / MIGRANT CHILD ALERT
TRT: 1:20
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: EMBARGOED UNTIL 14 JUNE 2016, 00:01 GMT
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: MAY 2016, MEDITERRANEAN SEA OFF THE COAST OF ITALY
1. Wide shot, Italian navy ship
2. Aerial shot, Italian navy ship
3. Wide shot, Italian naval officers
4. Wide shot, rescue boat approaching refugee boat
5. Various shots, refugees reaching out for lifejackets
6. Various shots, refugees being transported on rescue boat
7. Various shots, refugees walking up stairs on ship
8. Various shots, refugees in ship
9. Med shot, girl eating
10. Pan right, refugees asleep on the floor
11. Close up, mother holds little girl
12. Med shot, girl plays with balloon
13. Various shots, refugees being transferred to shore
14. Various shots, young men sitting
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said more than nine out of ten refugee and migrant children arriving in Europe this year through Italy were unaccompanied. UNICEF warned of the growing threats of abuse, exploitation and death they face.
In a report released today (14 Jun), UNICEF said 7,009 unaccompanied children made the journey from North Africa to Italy in the first five months of this year, twice as many as last year. It noted unaccompanied children generally relied on smugglers to reach their destinations often under a system of ‘pay as you go’, which put them at risk of exploitation.
UNICEF said it was told by Italian social workers that both girls and boys had been sexually assaulted and forced into prostitution while in Libya, and some of the girls were pregnant when they arrived in Italy after being raped.
UNICEF said due to the illicit nature of human smuggling operations however, there were no reliable figures to show how many of the refugees and migrants died, disappeared into forced labour or prostitution, or lingered in detention.
UNICEF said with summer nearing, the latest numbers of children on the Central Mediterranean route might well be just the tip of the iceberg. The Fund said another 235,000 migrants were currently in Libya, tens of thousands of them unaccompanied children.
