Europe refugee crisis hits sickening low with children forced to engage in ‘survival sex’

Europe refugee crisis hits sickening low with children forced to engage in ‘survival sex’

EUROPE’S refugee and migrant crisis has hit a sickening new low with children forced to prostitute themselves just to survive.

The office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees said it had received “credible testimonies” of sexual violence and abuse against women and children on the move in Europe.

Among hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants pouring into southeastern Europe, children were being forced into sex with people smugglers to pay their way onward, the agency reported.

UNHCR cautioned that it doesn’t have a full grasp of how widespread the problem is, but says women and children travelling alone who are short of cash and sleeping in places like parks and train stations are particularly vulnerable.

Some authorities, it said, have increased the risk for children by placing them in detention along with adults while they wait for official processing of asylum applications.

“From testimony and reports we have received there have been instances of children engaging in survival sex to pay smugglers to continue their journey, either because they have run out money, or because they have been robbed,” UNHCR said in a statement.

People fleeing war and poverty in places like Syria and Iraq have been taking boats to Greece and Italy, then travelling by foot, bus and train north and west to countries like Germany and Sweden.

Spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said some testimonies came from “overcrowded reception sites” such as in Greece, the main point of entry for more than 644,000 people — about a third of them women and children — who UNHCR estimates have reached Europe this year.

She said it is assessing how many children might be affected, but was going public with the concerns to pressure governments along the route to do more to help children.

“This is the stage where we are raising the alarm bell,” she told reporters. “This has been gathering.

The extortion of women and children appears to be happening “in every single country” along the route — mainly through the Balkans — and it appears that smugglers, criminal gangs and other refugees could potentially be behind the abuse, she said.

“We are calling on all concerned national authorities in Europe to take measures to ensure the protection of women and girls and children,” she said.

Fleming said one colleague in Greece was spending time walking up and down rows of people arriving to make sure “vulnerable people are identified.” She said another colleague in Sweden — where a more open policy toward migrants and refugees has made it a top destination — said that 500 unaccompanied minors recently were arriving each day.

“You’re seeing these desperate cases of parents sending their children ahead at really young ages,” Fleming said.

UNHCR senior spokesman Ron Redman told ABC Radio “survival sex” was seen in refugee situations all over the world.

“They are in a position where they can be exploited because they have nothing, and there are people who say you can have some food or you can get this type of assistance in exchange for sex,” he said.