As many as 9,000 minors are among the approximately 58,000 refugees that have arrived in Italy by sea between January 1 and June 17, said a new report released Thursday by non-governmental organization Save the Children.
Among those are 1,542 children with an average age of five, fleeing from civil war in Syria, said the report released ahead of World Refugee Day on Friday.
Titled 'The Last Resort. Fleeing the War from Syria to Europe', the report gathers stories told by refugees disembarking in Italy's regions of Sicily and Calabria, and by those who have reached cities such as Rome and Milan. Among the 58,000 migrants that have arrived this year, about 5,300 are women while the majority of the 9,000 minors landing on Italian shores are not accompanied by an adult, said the report.
Just 3,160 of those minors were accompanied by relatives, the report said. They set sail for Italy, whose islands of Lampedusa and Sicily are the first landfall for people coming from North Africa, on unseaworthy boats, most of them carrying children and adolescents as well as adults.
Italian rescuers from the country's Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) migrant search and rescue operation have reported finding some vessels carrying mostly children and teenagers, said the report.
To raise public awareness of the plight of child migrants and refugees, Save the Children Italy has launched a campaign called Bereket's Journey, which will tell the story of a fictional 15-year-old Eritrean boy trying to reach Germany in hopes of a better life.
On his own, with no money and no documents, day by day, Bereket will tell the world about his perilous voyage via Facebook at www.facebook.com/ilviaggiodibereket.
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