Child refugees face sexual abuse in EU: British politician

The leader of the Liberal Democrat political party in the United Kingdom says thousands of unaccompanied child refugees currently stranded in Europe face sexual abuse and that the UK should legally admit a portion of them in to protect them from such abuse.

Tim Farron made the remarks ahead of a vote at the UK’s House of Commons on whether to admit 3,000 unaccompanied minors into the UK on Monday night.

He said that about “30,000” unaccompanied children are now in Europe, adding that at least 10,000 of them have already disappeared and some of them have been subjected to sexual abuse.

“We reckon that 10,000 of those 30,000 have gone missing and they will be in the hands of traffickers, some of them sexually exploited,” he said.

Farron backed the proposal of taking the 3,000 lone minors, saying Britain must accept its “fair share.”

“[Home Secretary] Theresa May and [Prime Minister] David Cameron have the opportunity to help those children and prevent that trafficking [from] taking place,” he said.

Farron ruled out the possibility that the move by the UK would encourage families to send more children to the EU unaccompanied, arguing that just a quarter of the total number of refugees who flee conflict zones head to Europe and that the continent is not their sole destination.

SS