Migrant children face “an exceptional risk”
Refugees, Iraq / © ACN
ROME, SEPTEMBER 21, 2017 (Zenit.org).- “Twenty-seven million children have left school in 24 countries involved in conflicts. This is the alarming picture traced by a UNICEF Report published yesterday, on the occasion of the United Nations General Assembly”: L’Osservatore Romano in Italian, September 21 2017 daily issue, laments this situation of children refugees in this article we translate about UNICEF Report.
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According to the study, migrant children and young people, with low levels of education, “run an ever greater risk of exploitation.”
Moreover, the data of a survey carried out among minors, who move on the route that connects the Mediterranean with Central Europe, reveals that 90% of adolescents without education said they suffered exploitation, compared with 77% of children with primary education and 75% with secondary education.
According to the UNICEF Report, refugees have a five times greater probability of not attending school compared to other children. In fact, only 50% of them are enrolled in primary school and less than 25% in secondary school.
Migrant children then face “an exceptional risk” : a greater number in fact have the probability of becoming victims of sexual violence and gender-based violence,” adds the UNICEF Report.
The same picture applies to countries involved in conflicts, where girls have a 2.5 times greater probability of not going to school compared to boys.
Translation by Virginia M. Forrester