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STORY: UNICEF / MEDITERRANEAN EXPLOITATION ABUSE
TRT: 01:30
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: EMBARGOED UNTIL 09:30 GMT+1, 28 FEBRUARY, 2017
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 29 JANUARY TO 3 FEBRUARY, LIBYA / MEDITERRANEAN SEA
29 JANUARY TO 3 FEBRUARY, 2017, MIGRANT DETENTION CENTRE, LIBYA
1. Close up, young boy behind bars in detention centre
2. Close up, group of migrants behind bars in detention centre
3. Various shots, rooms inside detention centre
4. Wide shot, group of migrants behind bars in a sheet metal building
5. Close up, mother and child
6. Various shots, migrants lying on mattresses in a large room
7. Wide shot, migrant sitting alone in large room
FILE - 3 OCTOBER, 2015, MEDITERRANEAN SEA BETWEEN LIBYA AND ITALY
8. Various shots, migrants on a rubber boat being rescued by Italian navy
31 JANUARY, 2017, MIGRANT DETENTION CENTRE, LIBYA
SOUNDBITE (English) Teenage migrant in detention centre:
9. “We are treated like chickens. It’s like people who… I don’t know what to call this. It’s not good, very dangerous. They used to beat us, used to flog us. They don’t give us good food. They don’t give us good water. The policemen, they harass us.”
FILE – 1-5 DECEMBER, 2016, MISURATA, LIBYA
10. Various shots, destroyed buildings
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned refugee and migrant children and women were routinely suffering sexual violence, exploitation, abuse and detention along the Central Mediterranean migration route from North Africa to Italy.
In a report released today (28 Feb), UNICEF said three quarters of the refugee and migrant children interviewed as part of a survey said they had experienced violence, harassment or aggression at the hands of adults at some point over the course of their journey, while nearly half of the women and children interviewed reported sexual abuse during migration – often multiple times and in multiple locations.
UNICEF said most children and women indicated that they had paid smugglers at the beginning of their journey, leaving many in debt under ‘pay as you go’ arrangements and vulnerable to abuse, abduction and trafficking.
Women and children also reported harsh and overcrowded conditions, including lack of nutritious food and adequate shelter, in Libyan detention centres run by both Government and armed militias. A teenager interviewed by UNICEF at a migrant detention centre in Libya said he fled his country Nigeria in fear of Boko Haram after losing his parents. He said the journey to Libya was very dangerous and some of the people accompanying him on the journey had died on the way. The teenager said migrants were treated “like chickens” at the detention centre.
UNICEF urged governments and the European Union to support and adopt a six-point agenda for action aimed at protecting child refugees and migrants giving particular attention to unaccompanied children.
Last year, at least 4,579 people died attempting to cross the Mediterranean from Libya, or 1 in every 40 of those who made the attempt. It is estimated that at least 700 of those who lost their lives were children.
