Number of unaccompanied minors in Belgium on the rise
An estimated 3,500 unaccompanied minors are currently living in Belgian cities, increasingly falling prey to criminal networks and prostitution. French-speaking children's rights commissioner Soulaÿman Laqdim raised concern surrounding this topic on Wednesday in the parliament of the French Community.
Over the years, these minors have become younger, and the number of girls has risen. "Fifteen years ago, 95 per cent of these unaccompanied minors were boys. Today, that is only 78 per cent," Laqdim noted. Many sleep on the streets or in train stations, where they are often sexually exploited, used by criminal networks, or illegally employed.
"These young people are exposed to unprecedented violence," he warned. "When they are taken from the state by social workers, they often have to go to hospital first for genital surgery."
Drug wars
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.”
Laqdim noted that the key to addressing the crisis lies in meeting these minors' basic needs, including shelter and legal status.
© BELGA PHOTO JAMES ARTHUR GEKIERE
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