The story of missing asylum-seeking underages

The Austrian government recently released statistics on underage asylum seekers. About 5,770 children and adolescents applied for asylum in 2021, according to the Austrian Interior Ministry. This group was without parents and identification documents.

The assessment shows that about 4,500 underage asylum seekers have applied for asylum. Most of these children are Afghan citizens. The Austrian government is concerned that these children may be exposed to human traffickers.

The majority of these refugees (3,401) were Afghan citizens. Syrian children came in second with 1,345 followed by Somalia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Morocco and Egypt.

Responding to a request from  Stephanie Krisger a member of the Parliament of the country, Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karn said the government did not know exactly what had happened to the 4,489 children. In other words, 78% of those children who arrived in Austria last year have disappeared.

Lisa Wolfsiger is the head of the NGO Asylum Coordination has been working to better protect orphans over the past few years. "Imagine that in a year, about 180 students in a school disappear without a trace," he said in a statement. "Where have all these children gone?"

Ms. Wolfsiger said that most of these children appear to have joined their family members in other EU countries.

Joining family members in Europe actually means disappearing from the eyes of government officials and traveling through "illegal" routes. Because by law, children can only join parents and siblings in EU countries. Distant relatives are not covered by this law.

Some of them are thought to have fallen victim to human traffickers. The risk is very high for migrant children traveling alone. Every year, thousands of migrant children are trafficked to European countries.

Recent figures released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime show that children make up one-third of all trafficking victims worldwide.

Lisa Wolfsiger sees the root of all the problems in the fact that protectors are not immediately appointed [in Austria]. According to her, in the early stages of the asylum process, no one is responsible for them alone, and as a result, children often lose important information about their rights and future opportunities in life. Some of them find themselves in a very difficult situation. As a result, they fall victim to human exploitation and trafficking. Wolfsiger says the risks could be minimized if a caregiver is immediately appointed for orphans.

 

_{Source and Credit: Infomigrant, Austria Internal Ministry}