联合国儿童基金会:逃亡欧洲难民儿童持续增多

AS IT IS 2016-06-27 UNICEF: Increase in Refugee¹ Children Fleeing to Europe 联合国儿童基金会:逃亡欧洲难民儿童持续增多

A large number of young refugees² and migrants face many risks trying to reach Europe.

So says a new UNICEF report called “Danger Every Step of the Way.” It reports that more than 7,000 unaccompanied children traveled the central Mediterranean³ Sea to escape from North Africa to Italy this year. That is twice as many during the same period in 2015. Unaccompanied means they traveled without adult supervision⁴.

The central Mediterranean travel path is full of risks and dangers, the report says.

Aimamo and his brother are 16 years old. Their journey from Gambia through Africa led them to a farm in Libya. There, they worked to pay smugglers.

“If you run, they shoot you and you die. If you stop working, they beat you,” Aimamo told UNICEF officials.

Social workers in Italy said some of the unaccompanied children became victims of sexual⁶ violence. The report says some girls had been raped⁷ and were pregnant⁸ when they arrived in Italy.

UNICEF officials say it is not clear how many refugees are killed, missing or detained⁹ during their travels. But the report says more than 90 percent of all refugee children are travelling without parents or guardians¹⁰. UNICEF based its numbers on information from the International Organization for Migration¹¹.

The IOM reports of almost 3000 migrant deaths along the Mediterranean path reported from January to June this year. In all of 2015, a total of 3,770 refugees died on the same path. Many were children.

Youths' stories

The UNICEF report includes Peace’s story. She is a 17-year-old girl from Nigeria. Both her parents are dead. She was living with her aunt, who was very poor. The aunt forced Peace to marry a 40-year-old man.

Peace said, “This man took me to his house and made me his house girl.” She told UNICEF if she did not marry the man, her aunt would have poisoned her.

Peace decided¹² to escape. She was going to travel alone. Smugglers took Peace across the Sahara Desert to Libya.

She reported seeing bodies of the dead as she crossed the desert. In Sabratha, Libya, she was held for weeks in a house without windows. She heard gunshots. She heard people fighting.

Peace said the Libyans in charge of her escape would not let her out of the house. She said there was no water, no extra clothes and little food.

Peace was able to travel by boat to Italy. She said some people fell off the ship and drowned. Others died on the ship.

“I wish my friend had told me how difficult this is. I would have continued suffering in Nigeria,” she said.

Peace is waiting for an asylum¹³ hearing in Italy. Almost 96,000 children traveling alone asked for asylum in Europe last year. There were a total of 1.4 million asylum requests, the UNICEF report says.

Protecting children

UNICEF has urged the European Union to make laws to protect young refugees.

Marie-Pierre Poirier is UNICEF’s special coordinator¹⁴ for the refugee and migrant crisis¹⁵ in Europe. She said children have every right to a better life.

She told VOA children are experiencing and escaping from wars. They travel far and long to reach safety. But they still need protection, education, health care and guidance, she said.

UNICEF also called for countries to stop the refugee crisis. The U.N. wants nations to find solutions for children in search of better lives.

Words in This Story

aunt – n. the sister of your father or mother

smuggler⁵ – n. a person who moves someone or something from one country into another illegally and secretly

coordinator - n. a person who organizes people or groups so that they work together properly and well?

guardian- n. someone who takes care of another person or of another person's property

1 refugee   

n.难民，流亡者

参考例句：

• The refugee was condemned to a life of wandering.这个难民注定要过流浪的生活。
• The refugee is suffering for want of food and medical supplies.难民苦于缺少食物和医药用品。

2 refugees   

n.避难者，难民( refugee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The UN has begun making airdrops of food to refugees. 联合国已开始向难民空投食物。
• They claimed they were political refugees and not economic migrants. 他们宣称自己是政治难民，不是经济移民。

3 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

4 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

5 smuggler   

n.走私者

参考例句：

• The smuggler is in prison tonight, awaiting extradition to Britain. 这名走私犯今晚在监狱，等待引渡到英国。
• The smuggler was finally obliged to inform against his boss. 那个走私犯最后不得不告发他的首领。

6 sexual   

adj.性的，两性的，性别的

参考例句：

• He was a person of gross sexual appetites.他是个性欲旺盛的人。
• It is socially irresponsible to refuse young people advice on sexual matters.拒绝向年轻人提供性方面的建议是对社会不负责任。

7 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句

8 pregnant   

adj.怀孕的，怀胎的

参考例句：

• She is a pregnant woman.她是一名孕妇。
• She is pregnant with her first child.她怀了第一胎。

9 detained   

留住( detain的过去式和过去分词 )； 耽搁； 拘留； 扣留

参考例句：

• One man has been detained for questioning. 一个男人被拘留审问。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group. 他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

10 guardians   

监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者

参考例句：

• Farmers should be guardians of the countryside. 农民应是乡村的保卫者。
• The police are guardians of law and order. 警察是法律和秩序的护卫者。

11 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

13 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

14 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

15 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。