An estimated 3,500 unaccompanied minors are currently residing in Belgian cities. Over the years, these minors have become younger and younger.
They often fall prey to criminal networks and prostitution, warned French-speaking children's rights commissioner Solayman Laqdim in the Parliament of the French-speaking community on Wednesday.
An increasing percentage of them are girls. "15 years ago, 95% of these unaccompanied minors were boys. Today, that is only 78%," said Laqdim. They sleep on the streets or in train stations and are often sexually exploited, used by criminal networks or employed illegally.
"These minors are exposed to unprecedented violence," he said. "When they are taken from the streets by social workers, they often first have to go to hospital for genital surgery."
Many of these minors are also used as mercenaries by drug networks because they are cheap. And when they die, there are fewer reprisals between gangs. "These unaccompanied minors have no value in the eyes of the criminal networks, and their numbers are constantly growing."
According to Laqdim, the solution lies in meeting the primary needs of minors, such as shelter and official recognition.
