Child migrant arrivals in Greece have quadrupled this year as Save the Children and the Greek Council of Refugees call for greater protections for children fleeing war and hunger.
More than 6,400 migrant children entered Greece in 2024 so far, over four times the number this time last year, according to a report sent to Neos Kosmos by Save the Children.
About one in every four child migrants who arrived in Greece this year came without a family or legal guardian. More than 1,500 and triple the number from 12 months ago.
Last year the two organisations found that most unaccompanied children had their asylum claims rejected, leaving them without legal papers and vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.
Fileri Kyriaki, a lawyer with the Greek Council for Refugees, works on the Greek island of Kos, which is struggling with overcrowded refugee reception facilities known as Closed Controlled Access Centres.
“There are no safe and legal channels to migration. The children have to risk their lives,” she said in a media release.
“[And when they get to Kos] there is a total and chronic lack of adequate medical services, while at the same time the island’s structure is also insufficient for its inhabitants.
“There’s no capacity to actually screen vulnerabilities or provide them with the health care they need.”
Until these children are appointed a guardian, they have no one to bring them necessities and they can’t call home.
Kyriaki added that the children spend a few weeks in a fenced area called a ‘safe area’ until they are transferred to a shelter.
“Imagine that when an unaccompanied child is placed in the safe area, they are still wearing the wet clothes they wore during the boat journey.”
“There is nothing to do in the safe area, no activities at all, recreational or otherwise. They are bored, and the place feels like a prison – it’s not at all child-friendly. It is a container with barbed wire around it.
“In that sense, children who travelled with their families can exit the camp, while unaccompanied children cannot.”
Save the Children and the Greek Council for Refugees are now calling on Greek authorities to ensure every unaccompanied child has a guardian from day one and to better fund child protection services to guarantee their safety and well-being.
They also call for improved living conditions and that when the recent EU Pact of Migration & Asylum is implemented, for the protection of children to be prioritised.
