Child trafficking threat concerns Italian charities amid Ukrainian refugee influx

Aid agencies in Italy say unaccompanied children are particularly at risk of abuse and human trafficking

File photo: a Ukrainian refugee girl carries a sibling after arriving by train at the Hungarian border town of Zahony in early March (Getty)

Italian aid agencies are warning people against taking in Ukrainian minors through unofficial channels due to concerns over exploitation and human trafficking, following the arrival in Italy of tens of thousands of children fleeing Russia’s invasion.

Roughly 72,000 Ukrainian refugees have reached Italy since Russia’s ground and air offensive on its neighbour started over a month ago, catapulting Ukraine into a state of war and forcing nearly four million people to leave the country.

More than 31,000 of these recent arrivals into Italy are children, many of them armed with little more than a backpack and a favourite toy. Approximately 300 of them are unaccompanied, according to the Italian interior ministry.