The aid organization Save the children draws attention to exploitation of child refugees in Italy: according to the organization, more and more young girls in particular are lured to Europe, where they are then exploited.
In Italy, according to the aid organization Save the Children, child refugees are forced into prostitution and drug trafficking. The increasing number of child refugees is exacerbating the problem and massively increasing the danger to the girls and boys, according to a report released Friday in Berlin, which cites eyewitnesses.
According to the aid organization, in 2016 more than 10.500 unaccompanied child refugees arrived in Italy. This is more than twice as many as in the same period of the previous year. According to Save the Children's account, girls from Nigeria or Romania in particular – as young as 13 – are lured to Italy by false promises to work as babysitters, waitresses or hairdressers. The traffickers sometimes availed themselves of the help of teachers or other trusted persons. The girls and young women would then be forced into prostitution and become victims of physical, sexual and emotional violence. Many boys would be forced into child labor and criminal business such as drug dealing and theft; they would also be sexually abused.