Some 25,800 unaccompanied children arrived in Italy by sea from North Africa in 2016 - more than double the 12,360 who landed the previous year - the United Nations said on Friday, describing the trend as "alarming".
These children account for a staggering 91 per cent of all the 28,200 children who reached Italy’s shores in 2016 as refugees or migrants, according to the UN children's fund UNICEF.
“These figures indicate an alarming trend of an increasing number of highly vulnerable children risking their lives to get to Europe,” said UNICEF senior emergency manager Lucio Melandri.
“Current systems in place are failing to protect these children who find themselves alone in a totally unfamiliar environment. Because they are on the move, a coordinated European response is needed to keep them safe,” he said.
Most of these unaccompanied or separated children who arrived this past year came four countries: Eritrea, Egypt, the Gambia and Nigeria, UNICEF said.
While most of the children were boys aged 15 to 17 years, younger children and girls have also been among the new arrivals.
Girls in particular are at risk of sexual exploitation and abuse, including commercial sexual exploitation by criminal gangs, UNICEF said.
“The presence of so many unaccompanied or separated children along the Central Mediterranean route is unprecedented,” said Melandri.
"We have a serious and growing problem on our hands."
Apart from addressing the factors that are forcing children to travel alone from their homes, a comprehensive protection, monitoring system needs to be developed to protect them, Melandri said.
Only 17 percent of minors who reached Greece by sea in 2016 were unaccompanied by adult family members or guardians, according to UNICEF.
