UNICEF calls for protection for child refugees from Libya
160729-N-EU999-004 MEDITERRANEAN SEA (July 29, 2016) Migrants aboard an inflatable vessel approach the guided-missile destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64). Carney provided food and water to the migrants aboard the vessel before coordinating with a nearby merchant vessel to take them to safety. Carney is forward deployed to Rota, Spain, and is conducting a routine patrol in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of U.S. national security interests in Europe. (U.S. navy photo by Chief Information Systems Technician Wesley R. Dickey/Released)
The International Organisation for Migration has stated 2275 refugees were left unaccounted for in the Mediterranean Sea over the last year. According to AfricaNews, those missing are thought to have died on the dangerous central Mediterranean route, used primarily by smugglers from Tunisia and Libya attempting to get to Italy.
Children are among those fleeing their countries. After the most recent shipwreck in the Mediterranean 20 people missing, the UN children’s fund has expressed concern.
“In 2024, 60,000 people arrived in Italy, including 8,000 unaccompanied foreign minors. Despite the drop in arrivals compared to the previous year, the vulnerabilities among people who arrive do not decrease. They are people who are often fleeing, as we know, from conflict, violence and extreme poverty. They are girls and boys who represent 20% of the people who arrive, that is, one in five,”stated Andrea Iacomini, UNICEF`s Italian spokesperson.
UNICEF has urged governments to prioritise the protections for child refugees,these protections include access to asylum services, pathways for reunification, and co-ordinated search and rescue missions.
“It is intolerable for a child to have to see their mother die in front of their eyes. It is intolerable that a child could die in seawater. And yet we’ve seen too many of them and we can’t think every time it’s the last time. Because from 2014 to today the numbers speak for themselves,” Iacomini states.
Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni, wishes to clamp down on smuggling, instead migrants are sent to detention centres in Albania while their asylum claim is processed.
Due to these changes according to Italy, in 2024 less than half as many migrants came into Italy by sea than did in 2023.
AfricaNews
