More than 6,400 migrant children have entered Greece so far this year, more than four times the figure over the same period last year, the charity Save the Children said Wednesday.
One in four came without a family member, a figure three times higher than in the first half of 2023, it added.
Unaccompanied minors face harsher conditions, as they often reach migrant detention centres with “no one to bring them clothes, shoes or even a cell phone to call home and talk to their family”, the charity said.
The great majority of children — 5,580 — arrived in the country by sea via the Greek Aegean islands, while about 830 crossed the Greek-Turkish border by land.
“There are no safe and legal channels to migration. The children have to risk their lives,” said Fileri Kyriaki, a lawyer working for the Greek Council for Refugees on the island of 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,” she said.
Overall, Save the Children reported a nearly 250 percent spike on last year.
Minors when they arrive in Greece “are not treated as children”, said Save the Children’s Europe director Willy Bergogne, urging the Greek state to step up efforts to protect them and improve their living conditions.
He also called for the creation of a “safe passage” so that the Mediterranean Sea can stop being a “children’s cemetery”.
The Council of Europe last week published a report slamming Greece’s migrant detention policy, asking Athens to reform its system and end pushbacks.
The Greek government responded by asserting that detention conditions were “compliant with international standards”.
A BBC report recently alleged that 43 migrants had died in the Aegean Sea after being turned back by Greek coastguards between 2020 and 2023, including nine who were deliberately thrown overboard. Greece rejected the claims.
Though Athens has always denied the practice, numerous investigations by international media and rights groups have documented its existence, often with video evidence.
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