Child refugees found to be at increased risk of sexual predators as Greek migrant crisis intensifies

A new report from Harvard University has claimed vulnerable migrant children seeking refuge in Greece are falling victim to abuse and human traffickers.

Child refugees in Greece are increasingly at risk from rapists and sex traffickers, a report from Harvard University has claimed.

The researchers cited a “growing epidemic” of sexual exploitation as criminal elements increasingly prey on the already vast population of asylum seekers in the country. Aid workers cited a disturbing lack of law enforcement in refugee camps, where those already suffering from endemic poverty either resort to selling themselves or fall victim to criminal gangs associated with sex trafficking.

“Having endured the risks of sexual violence or having experienced sexual violence during their journey, migrant children suffer from the fear of sexual abuse in a place that should have guaranteed them safety and protection,” claimed researchers. “Children’s inherent vulnerability and dependency on others places them at a heightened risk for sexual violence. Cases of sexual assault of children have indeed been documented in many camps around Greece.”

The problem is compounded by a lack of adequate options for redress, with a deficit of translators among aid workers and inadequate policing leaving migrant children in danger. Attempts to relocate vulnerable persons are also believed to be being confounded by a lack of administrative resources.

“People are remaining either in camps that are generally lacking security and law enforcement on the mainland…accommodation is poor and people are living in limbo,” claimed Marleen Korthals Altes of Save the Children, in an interview with The Independent. “They come with a certain amount of money to survive but they got stuck and it has run out, and now they are desperate”.

Greece currently hosts over sixty thousand refugees, many of them having undertaken dangerous journeys from conflict zones such as Syria and Afghanistan. A large number of those seeking refuge are minors, with four hundred and eighty thousand children arriving in 2015 to either obtain asylum or pass on elsewhere. Of the twenty one thousand child migrants now in Greece over two thousand are believed to be unaccompanied by an adult.

Many such children are believed to be resorting to “survival sex” to pay for transit out of Greece. Others remain trapped in the camps where they are at risk from local predators and trafficking gangs known for specifically targeting refugee populations.

“We had a case of a four year-old girl who was raped,” a psychologist at a camp outside Athens told the Harvard researchers, “the mother did whatever was possible to report it”.

A lack of protection from police has led to some taking matters into their own hands. In one instance a suspected child rapist is believed to have been set upon and badly beaten by outraged refugees. Many similar cases of child abuse are believed to go unnoticed, however, due to social stigmas and fear of violent repercussions from perpetrators.

“When a case like this is reported to us, it takes some time before the victim is transferred to a safer place and the offender is prosecuted,” claimed another camp psychologist cited in the Harvard report. “They do not want to report it, because they are afraid that the offender will take revenge on them. They also do not believe that the police can help them.”

Greece has long been a point of destination and transit for human trafficking operations. Many victims are believed to originate from as far afield as China and the former Soviet Union, ultimately becoming entrapped in either forced labour or the local sex industry. With the influx of refugees from trouble spots across north Africa and the Middle East, however, trafficking is believed to have increased as criminals prey on a ready supply of vulnerable people.

“When the migrants land on Europe’s shores, when they are not properly looked after, they are absolutely ripe victims for the traffickers,” claimed Catherine Bearder, an MEP for the UK Liberal Democrats, in a 2016 interview with The Guardian. “Very, very few are rescued by the authorities and for me that is shocking. (Police often) see the crime, not the person, they see them as illegal immigrants.”