Syrian child refugees are subjected to rape, violence and beatings during their journey to Sweden, Reuters reporters.
The news agency said around 700 refugee children are arriving every week without their parents in Sweden, many injured in accidents and some bearing the physical and psychological scars of beatings or rape by their smugglers.
Staff working at a Malmo transit centre who care for unaccompanied children told Reuters that some children arrive with head injuries or broken bones.
“Often these are suffered when they fall from trucks on which they are trying to stow away. But the injuries can also be inflicted by the very smugglers that their parents have paid to take them to safety in northern Europe,” Reuters reported.
“Some children, for example, suffer from hearing loss after they have been slapped over the ears during a journey which includes a lethally dangerous sea crossing to Europe on rafts or in boats, many of which are not seaworthy.”
The centre’s manager Kristina Rosen said: “We have also received many who came via Libya, including people who have been on the capsized boats.”
One unaccompanied child saw his brother drown in the Mediterranean Sea; staff at the centre estimate more than half the children need psychological care at some point.
“What is most striking on their arrival is that they are extremely tired and extremely hungry. They eat endless amounts of food,” Rosen said.
Nearly 92 per cent of the unaccompanied minors seeking asylum are 13-17 years old.