Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/776046
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 22 JANUARY 2017 15 Apart from further cooperation between police and security agen- cies on a European level, Caruana says that the system needs to be overhauled. "On paper the tools and the ideas are right but what is failing is the implementation." Another crucial node is securing borders. Caruana recounts that she once dealt with a case of a young wom- an who was in Malta with her two younger siblings. The three were given permission to travel to Ger- many but the woman returned alone. "When I asked her where the children were she said she left the children with family in Germany. But I could not ascertain this and I called the immigration police. But I was told that they could not do anything. I asked whether Interpol could help but I was told no. I was also told that there is no monitor- ing of children entering and exit- ing the country." She explains that security must improve because of the use of fake passports. She says one of the for- mer unaccompanied migrants was interviewed ahead of the confer- ence but went missing from Malta thanks to a fake passport sent to him by his friend in Italy. But that is only one side of the story. Many other unaccompanied children go missing with the help of smugglers. "There are those who exit the country by plane, there are oth- ers who simply disappear. I don't know how they get out of the country. Otherwise I would in- form the authorities," Caruana says. She explains that once children go missing, they build new identi- ties. "Some go to the extent of re- moving their fingerprints by burn- ing their fingers or putting acid on their fingers to make sure they are not identified and sent back to where they claimed asylum." She says that there are no known cases of unaccompanied children in Malta who were forced into prostitution. However there have been recorded cases where minors absconded from detention after being promised an escape route to Italy, only to end up working on construction sites in Malta. 'These kids do not have many options. They have no documents, they have escaped from detention and they are alone." The number of boat arrivals is insignificant today but this does not mean that no unaccompanied minors are arriving on our shores. "You have children coming by plane and by catamaran from Sic- ily. The problem is that these are not detected so we have unaccom- panied children out there who are not receiving any kind of protec- tion." Three years ago, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat made a commit- ment to end the detention of un- accompanied child migrants. Malta detains all age-disputed cases pending an age determina- tion process, and as a result chil- dren below the age of 18 may be detained for weeks or months, de- spite alternative available facilities. During detention, children are de- tained with adults, without any ac- commodation for their young age, and with no access to school. Under international and Euro- pean standards, unaccompanied children should never be detained for reasons related to irregular en- try, and pending age determina- tion the person claiming to be a child should be treated as such un- til the determination is complete. I ask whether any progress has been registered on this front, but my question is met by a deafening silence. After a few seconds, Caruana speaks. "I think this the silence says it all. It's the loudest state- ment I can make." "And that is the problem, thou- sands of children go missing in Europe but you rarely read or hear anything about them." Despite being determined to stand up for the voiceless and never giving up the fight, Caruana says that she is as responsible as anyone else. "I am responsible for every unac- companied child that goes miss- ing. I formed part and still am part of a system that failed and contin- ues to fail children." Interview Thousands of unaccompanied child refugees and asylum seekers go missing every year in Europe. Many are pushed into prostitution and slavery. Angela Caruana says the system is failing the children and there is very little will to deal with the problem