九妹
知名会员
- 注册
- 2014-05-01
- 消息
- 2,310
- 荣誉分数
- 726
- 声望点数
- 123
A child refugee walks along the Greek port of Piraeus. Europol officials say thousands of children are streaming into the continent unsupervised. Some arrive with family, others may be in the hands of traffickers.
ROME, Italy — At least 10,000 unaccompanied child refugees have disappeared in Europe, the EU’s criminal intelligence agency has said, as it warned many could be in the hands of traffickers.
Brian Donald, Europol’s chief of staff, said the children had vanished after arriving in Europe and registering with state authorities.
“It’s not unreasonable to say that we’re looking at 10,000-plus children,” he said.
“Not all of them will be criminally exploited; some might have been passed on to family members. We just don’t know where they are, what they’re doing or whom they are with.”
Over one million migrants and refugees arrived in Europe last year. Europol estimates that 27 per cent of them are children.
“Not all of those are unaccompanied, but we also have evidence that a large proportion might be,” Mr Donald told the British Sunday paper, The Observer, adding that the 10,000 is likely to be a conservative estimate.
Some 5,000 of the children have disappeared in Italy, while 1,000 have gone missing in Sweden.
The comments come days after David Cameron announced Britain would work with the United Nations and take hundreds of unaccompanied children from refugee camps in Syria and surrounding countries.
Ministers have asked the UN to flag “exceptional” cases where children in refugee camps near Syria have genuinely been separated from their families.
However, he rejected calls for the UK to take 3,000 orphaned refugees who have reached Europe amid fears it could encourage more to make the perilous journey.
ROME, Italy — At least 10,000 unaccompanied child refugees have disappeared in Europe, the EU’s criminal intelligence agency has said, as it warned many could be in the hands of traffickers.
Brian Donald, Europol’s chief of staff, said the children had vanished after arriving in Europe and registering with state authorities.
“It’s not unreasonable to say that we’re looking at 10,000-plus children,” he said.
“Not all of them will be criminally exploited; some might have been passed on to family members. We just don’t know where they are, what they’re doing or whom they are with.”
Over one million migrants and refugees arrived in Europe last year. Europol estimates that 27 per cent of them are children.
“Not all of those are unaccompanied, but we also have evidence that a large proportion might be,” Mr Donald told the British Sunday paper, The Observer, adding that the 10,000 is likely to be a conservative estimate.
Some 5,000 of the children have disappeared in Italy, while 1,000 have gone missing in Sweden.
The comments come days after David Cameron announced Britain would work with the United Nations and take hundreds of unaccompanied children from refugee camps in Syria and surrounding countries.
Ministers have asked the UN to flag “exceptional” cases where children in refugee camps near Syria have genuinely been separated from their families.
However, he rejected calls for the UK to take 3,000 orphaned refugees who have reached Europe amid fears it could encourage more to make the perilous journey.
