Migrant children are prostituting themselves to get a safe passage into France from the Italian border, Save the Children Italy reported.
The minors, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, are selling sex if they are unable to pay the 50 to 150 euros (US$58.36 to US$175.09) asked by drivers in exchange for a lift across the border.
The children are also being offered food or shelter in return for sex.
The charity says it has evidence of many cases, particularly since the beginning of this year.
“These are very young and particularly at-risk girls, who are among the invisible flow of unaccompanied migrant minors in transit at the northern Italian border who, in an attempt to reunite with their relatives or acquaintances in other European countries, are deprived of the opportunity to travel safely and legally,” Save the Children director of Italy-Europe programs Raffaela Milano said in the report.
The girls “are strongly exposed to very serious risks of abuse and exploitation” and in many cases find themselves living in conditions “of great degradation,” she added.
The situation in the Italian border town of Ventimiglia, a major transit hub for migrants attempting to cross into France, was aggravated after a makeshift camp by the Roya River was cleared in April.
Since then, migrant children had been forced to live on the streets in “degrading, promiscuous and dangerous conditions,” the report said.
The report said migrant children were also being exploited for sex in other parts of Italy, including in Rome and the regions of Veneto, Abruzzo and Marche, as well as the island of Sardinia.
More than 1,900 girls had been sexually exploited across the areas between January last year and March, out of which it was proven that 160 were children, the report said, adding that the rest had either recently reached the age of 18 or were pretending to be adults.
“It is unacceptable that in our country, children and adolescents end up in the network of unscrupulous exploiters,” Milano added.
The report follows an Oxfam report last month that accused French border police of illegally sending migrant children back to Italy.
They were also accused of detaining children as young as 12 in cells without food or water, cutting the soles off their shoes so they did not try to attempt the journey again, and stealing SIM cards from their mobile phones.
Oxfam said at least 16,500 migrants, one-quarter of them children, had passed through Ventimiglia in the nine months to April.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
MIGRATION: The Supreme Court justices said they were not deciding whether Trump could legally use the Alien Enemies Act to deport undocumented migrants US President Donald Trump on Friday lashed out at the US Supreme Court after it blocked his bid to resume deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members, saying the justices are “not allowing me to do what I was elected to do.” Trump’s berating of the high court, in a post on Truth Social, came after it dealt another setback to his attempt to swiftly expel alleged Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang members using an obscure wartime law, the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA). Trump has been at loggerheads with the judiciary ever since he returned to the White House, venting
RSS