Nearly 5,000 unaccompanied minors currently in Greece, say NGOs
Some 4,962 unaccompanied minors currently live in Greece with only one in four being accommodated in humane conditions, the National Center of Social Solidarity reported on Wednesday.
The main problems these children face are the very limited access to basic housing, food and water, and lack of legal representation, the organizations said at a presentation.
"Some 1,117 unaccompanied minors live at the Moria hotspot (Lesvos island), of whom 140 live in long-term accommodation facilities and 350 in slightly better facilities there, yet none of them have access to translators, welfare officers or psychologists," said Elina Sarantou of HIAS, a Jewish-American nonprofit organization that provides humanitarian aid and assistance to refugees.
"The most shocking data, however," added Gavriil Sakellaridis, Greece Director of Amnesty International, "is that some 1,200 unaccompanied minors have gone missing and are most likely exposed to serious perils, wandering beyond and away from official protection systems."
Nearly half of all recorded refugee population in 2018 were children, the international humanitarian organizations said, and in Greece children continue to account for one third of all migrant arrivals, based on 2019 figures so far.
[ANA-MPA]
