Driven from their African homes by extreme poverty, thousands of migrant women and children are pushing ahead in their journey of hope to Europe despite the horrors that await them along the way.
UNICEF, the United Nations child protection agency, has revealed in a new report that these migrants are braving a "terrifying" epidemic of rape, sexual abuse, slavery, and other brutalities to keep alive their hopes of a better life on foreign shores.
Titled "A Deadly Journey for Children," the report UNICEF released on Tuesday said a total of 25,846 children crossed North Africa to Italy using the Mediterranean route last year.
UNICEF interviewed 82 women and 40 children, who all had nightmarish memories of their journey.
"What came out of this report is quite stark and shocking," Sarah Crowe, UNICEF spokesperson for refugee and migrant crisis, told Al Jazeera. "Testimonies coming from these children are truly surprising and terrifying."
She said half of the migrants they interviewed admitted that they suffered from sexual violence, many times in many locations. One-third of them said they had suffered sexual abuse in Libya, which they said is "widespread and systemic at crossings and checkpoints."
Male migrants are killed when they try to intervene and save their women and children from smugglers and other abusers, UNICEF said.
Nine-year-old Kamis, one of the young girls interviewed by UNICEF staff, said she fled with her mother from Nigeria but ended up in a detention centre in the Libyan town of Sabratha.
"They used to beat us every day," Kamis said. "There was no water there either. That place was very sad. There's nothing there."
Issa, a 14-year-old migrant, said she left her home in Niger two and a half years ago in search of work so that she could help support her family. She said her father even "collected money for my journey" only for her to fall victim to human smugglers in Libya.
In an earlier report, UNICEF revealed that refugees living in temporary camps in Northern France face sexual violence and forced prostitution. In many cases, young women offer sex to people who could help them travel to the United Kingdom, the U.N. agency's June 2016 report said.
Researchers noted other horrors occurring in the French refugee camps, including the rape of boys, and the rape and forced prostitution of girls.
