Children forced into sex to pay Channel traffickers
CHILD refugees stuck in camps in northern France are being forced to have sex with traffickers in return for the promise of passage to Britain, a UN report warns today.
The harrowing study found five hundred unaccompanied minors are being exposed to violence on a daily basis in seven slums across the English Channel as they wait to come to the UK.
Research commissioned by Unicef found they have suffered from sexual exploitation, violence, rape and forced prostitution in return for travel – described as ‘debt bondage’.
The Neither Safe Nor Sound report, published today, also said it was feared that attempts by children to cross the English Channel by boat and escape will only increase in the summer months.
It stated: ‘Threats to their safety are incessant, and the children don’t benefit from protection mechanisms. This is truly a children’s crisis in Europe.’
David Cameron last month said Britain would take in some lone child refugees in a dramatic U-turn after a campaign by charities, Labour peer Alf Dubs and the Daily Mail.
Just some 30 unaccompanied children at the Calais camp have so far been brought to the UK, even though there are around 157 who have a right to come to Britain.
Last night Unicef said that despite Mr Cameron’s pledges, the children’s cases were ‘moving far too slowly’.
Deputy executive director Lily Caprani said: ‘The longer these children have to wait, the more desperate they may become and the more likely they are to risk their lives fleeing the appalling conditions of the camps to reach their families.’
Researchers interviewed 60 children between the ages of 11-17, from Afghanistan, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and other countries.
They had been living in the camps and slums along the cost of the English Channel between January and April 2016. The study found many of the children were trapped in the camps despite having family waiting for them in Britain.
The cost of crossing the Channel has soared to between £4,000 and £5,500 per person.
As a result of the cost and increased security presence, children have been ‘pushed into the hands of traffickers or forced to take significant risks in order to pass without paying’, the report said.
This March, there were 500 unaccompanied children living across the seven sites, and around 2,000 had passed through them since June last year.
Some had been living there for over a year. ‘By staying in these camps longer, children are subjected to more and more dangers’, the report said.
The main fears expressed by the children were the violence displayed by the police, civilian militias and traffickers, as well as sexual assault committed against both girls and boys.
Interviews with Ethiopian, Eritrean and Kurdish women revealed how there were practices involving the exchange of sexual services for the promise of passage to the UK. The report said this form of coercion resembled ‘debt bondage’.
‘Truly a children’s crisis in Europe’