VII. Exploitation of Children

Unaccompanied children outside of care have to fend for themselves. Children who have not applied for asylum do not have a regular status and as such are barred from legal employment. In contrast, children who have filed an asylum application and are over the age of 15[243] are,in theory, permitted to work in non-hazardous jobs; however, due to the dysfunctional guardianship system described in chapter II, they are often unable to secure the necessary guardian's consent to obtain a work permit.[244] As a result unaccompanied children who live outside of state-sponsored care arrangements-most unaccompanied children-find themselves in a daily struggle for survival, compelled to accept any type of work they find. Operating outside the legislative framework, many end up performing exploitative and hazardous work.

Children interviewed were paid wages below and sometimes far below the minimum wage, and they worked for extensive hours. Work under such conditions amounts to exploitation that may reach the level of forced labor.[245] Although Human Rights Watch's research did not focus on trafficking, some children whose testimonies are documented in this report may have been trafficked, as defined in international law.[246]

Child Labor

The Constitution of Greece prohibits any form of compulsory work.[247] In the context of protection of the family and citizen's health care, the state is obliged to adopt special measures for the protection of childhood and youth.[248]

Children from the ages of 15 to 17 who are employed are entitled to special labor protection relating to work hours and must be paid at least the minimum wage.[249] Greek law reflects international standards and prohibits employment of children below age 18 in occupations that may harm their health, security, or morals.[250]

Human Rights Watch found unaccompanied children who were mainly working in the agriculture and construction sectors and some in garment manufacturing-all working without legal protection in situations that violated Greek law. Interviews with both children and adults suggest that a large part of the workforce during orange, olive, and onion harvests consists of children. "There were a lot of children working there. Out of 15 persons… only five or six were adults," said 16-year-old Hafez S. about the orange harvest in Argos.[251] Children were recruited from Athens or Patras, typically through fellow nationals, and lived next to the plantation during the harvest. In contrast, unaccompanied children who worked in construction found such work around Athens, on short notice, and often for a few days only.

Not surprisingly, children said it is more difficult to find jobs without a work permit. Fifteen-year-old Nurullah F. told Human Rights Watch: "I found three jobs but because I don't have a work permit I can't work. The person I had to work for told me I could not get a work permit until I'm 18. He told me to go back to the police to say that I'm 18 and to have my birthday changed."[252] Similarly, 17-year-old Musa M. told us: "They tell me that I'm underage so they don't want to keep me."[253] Human Rights Watch visited a square in Athens where dozens of migrants and asylum seekers wait for jobs every morning. We encountered several young boys standing in a group. Although some of them seemed clearly younger than 18, when we asked them about their age, they were firm that they were not underage.

The Risk to Children's Health

Children employed in farm work and on construction sites perform labor that exposes them to a combination of health and safety risks: the lifting of heavy loads, the risk of falling from height, cold temperatures over long hours, and substandard and unhygienic accommodation. None of the children interviewed performed such work under the exceptions permissible in national law, and the required safeguards and protection were not applied. Health and safety risks make such work prohibited forms of child labor and bring them into the category of worst form of child labor, as defined by article 3 of the Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention.[254] While this is also in violation of Greek law, there was little evidence that the Greek authorities take steps to enforce the law and protect children (see below).

All children who worked in the construction sector told us that they had to lift heavy loads and almost all had to mix cement and carry it up several floors for other workers. Fourteen-year-old Wali P. said he wasn't able to find any lighter work on construction sites: "carrying up the cement is the hardest. Always the young [boys] carry up the cement," adding, "I can't find any other work."[255] Nurullah F., age 15, reported: "I had to carry cement up to the fourth floor.… They cut plastic containers and put cement inside and I had to carry those containers up to the fourth floor. They weighed about 18 kg."[256]

Children working outside the construction sector also ended up carrying heavy loads. Fifteen-year-old Nurullah F. told us: "I worked for 20 days in a factory…. We took boxes from the container and carried them into the shop. The boxes were sometimes one meter large, sometimes half a meter…. They were very heavy.… They weighed about 20-25 kilos."[257]

Some children carried their heavy loads on concrete stairs; others, however, had to balance their loads on scaffolds and unfinished stairs without safety measures to prevent them from falling. Several children reported work injuries that resulted from falling off scaffolds and unfinished stairs. Wali P. told about his work and the fate of a friend:

I walk up on wooden beams, as high as five floors. The [scaffold] is dangerous to walk up on and it's difficult to keep the balance with one big bucket on a small beam. My friend fell down from the second floor onto the scaffold [underneath]. He injured his hand.… He went to the hospital and was in hospital for two weeks.[258]

Hazards were not limited to work in the construction sector. The risk of falling was also a risk for children employed in agriculture, a majority of whom harvested oranges. Boys climbed on ladders that stood on soft ground and reached out to pick oranges from the tops of trees. They told us how they and others frequently fell from these ladders. Hafez S, 16 years old, had harvested oranges:

We had ladders and a bucket. We sometimes fell from the ladder. I fell down four times in one month. It wasn't very high so I wasn't injured. The soil was soft so the ladder wasn't very stable.[259]

Ghulam S., aged 15, also spoke of the consequences of falling:

Some trees were big. Two persons collected [from below] as far as hands could reach, and two climbed on a ladder to pick [from the top].… Sometimes people fell down from the ladder. My friend fell down and was unconscious for 30 minutes. Once he fell down and broke his finger.[260]

Agricultural laborers are typically paid by the amount of fruit they harvest. Such schemes lead to competitive work environments in which every person tries to harvest as fast as he possibly can. This increases the likelihood of accidents as workers are less likely to take precautions. Twenty-five-year-old Yusuf K. described the competitive work environment during the olive harvest in Sparti: "We had to climb onto the tree to collect the olives. It was dangerous and many people fell down. Everybody tried to work fast to fill their boxes. It was very competitive.… I fell down many times."[261]

In garment manufacturing, children typically have to work for 10-12 hours per day over a period of several months. Although the work itself is not subject to hazards, the excessively long work hours, coupled with the fact that they have to perform repeated tasks over prolonged periods in the same physical position, pose a health risk. Zahir B. told us: "The work was very hard, especially to sit in a chair for so many hours. It was an easy job that didn't require special knowledge but it was hard. I had back pain and shoulder pain, because I always had to lean forward I now have pain in my neck."[262]

Seventeen-year-old Musa M. has a history of child labor and has been sewing clothes for years. He describes the impact of the long working hours on his health: "When I was in Iran I worked as a tailor and in Turkey as well. The doctor said I should change the job because I'm sitting for many hours without moving…. If I work too much I have pain in my kidneys…. If I work hard I feel a lot of pain. Then I take medicine."[263]

The orange harvest takes place during the winter months, in the cold and rainy season. Children who harvested oranges told us they had to start their work day as early as 4 a.m., in freezing temperatures, and the oranges they collected were covered in frost. Children did not have sufficiently warm clothing. Some fell ill as a result from working in such conditions. Sixteen-year-old Hafez S. said: "In the morning the trees were full of ice; we made a fire in the plantation; after a few minutes [of harvesting] we went back to the fire to warm our hands; we didn't have warm clothes."[264]

An adult, Yusuf K., recalled how workers who harvested oranges in Arta, among them children aged 14 and 15, fell ill: "It was very hard and very cold. At 4am there was frost and we had to put our hands under our armpits to warm them.… When we went to work without water we were compelled to eat oranges. These oranges were frozen so people got sick. Some people also forgot to bring water and one bottle was finished very quickly and then they had no more water."[265]

Children who work on construction sites risk damage to their health from working unprotected under the sun. Fourteen-year-old Wali P. compared his work on construction to work in a greenhouse: "It's better to work in a greenhouse…. It's hot in the greenhouse but work outside is almost always under the sun."[266] Arif L. told us how he got sick after working unprotected under the sun: "One day I got sick. On that day I worked to carry bricks up to the third floor. When I got home suddenly my nose started bleeding. It was a very sunny day and I worked in the sun all day…. There was no protection against the sun."[267]

Living in substandard, overcrowded, poorly heated and unhygienic conditions jointly with adults, poses security and health risks for unaccompanied children. Unaccompanied children interviewed by Human Rights Watch who were employed on plantations stayed with other workers in often filthy accommodation provided by their employers, in some cases paying excessive rents. Yusuf K. described how 30 persons had to share a single toilet and as many as 60 persons stayed in one room, where they slept, ate, and stayed whenever weather conditions didn't permit outdoor work. For that place, the owner collected 90 Euros monthly rent from each person, which adds up to around 5,000 Euros.[268] All persons interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that numerous underage boys were living and working in such conditions. Fifteen-year-old Aktar P. recalled picking oranges in Argos:

They kept in each room 10 persons together. The room was…. about 12 square meters. We paid one Euro per night. There was a mattress but no blanket and no sheet. My friend had a blanket and we slept the two of us under one blanket…. The room was not clean because there was no place for shoes and we ate and slept in the same room. We had one toilet for all [37 persons]. The toilet was in the garden, without roof and no running water.[269]

Work Hours and Payment

Work hours and payment for children interviewed by Human Rights Watch varied on the type of sector they worked in. Common to all children was that wages were below the minimum wages prescribed by law. Sometimes children were paid as little as 30 percent of the minimum salary for a day's work.[270]

In the construction sector, where children are often recruited on a day-to-day basis, work lasts from early morning to around 3 or 4 p.m. Wages, children told us, are around 25 Euros per day: "I worked from 7 a.m. until 4 or 5 p.m. and got 20, 25, or 30 Euros," 16-year-old Mohammed W. told us.[271]

Children in agriculture and garment manufacturing regularly worked for 12 hours and more. In garment manufacturing, they were paid between two Euro fifty and three Euros per hour. In agriculture they were paid per amount of harvested fruit, around 15 Euros for one ton of harvested oranges. This meant that in plantations with less fruit, children ended up working longer hours for the same wage-a day wage could be as low as ten Euros. Children employed in agriculture additionally had to pay for the often substandard accommodation provided by their employers from their salary. Sixteen-year-old Hafez S. recalled:

For one ton of oranges we got 15 Euros. We tried to collect as much as possible. We collected four persons in one group. I earned about ten to fifteen Euros [per day]. One day I managed to earn 20 Euros.… I worked for 19 days and.… after I paid food and rent I got 150 Euros.[272]

Children did not receive sufficient hours of rest in-between work days; breaks during the day were forbidden or very short. They got up as early as 3:30 a.m. either to travel to a distant work place or to queue for morning hygiene in overcrowded shared accommodation.[273] In one case, a boy who was 17 told us that during his 12 hour work day in a garment sweatshop "I wasn't allowed to stop for one minute, otherwise I would have been fired."[274]

Without a guardian who acts in their best interest, with no regular status or work permit, children are forced to make a living without any means to protect themselves from exploitative work conditions and conditions that are akin to forced labor. Being dependent on such income they become easy targets for exploitation. Fifteen-year-old Nurullah F., who unloaded heavy cargo from trucks in a factory, told us, 

At the beginning the owner told me if I got a work permit I would get 29 Euros a day. After 20 days [he said] 400 Euros was sufficient and that I should leave. Because I worked overtime he owed me 300 Euros more. When I asked about overtime the owner told me if I needed more time to do [the same job] it was my choice.[275]

Exploitation of children at their workplace in some cases may reach the level of forced labor. Wali N. arrived to Greece in 2004 at the age of 14. He traveled to Athens on his own, trusted in a stranger he managed to communicate with and was put to work for seven months:

[In Athens] I recognized a person… who spoke Bangla… so I made friends with that person. He said we would go to a factory to sew clothes, to work and stay there. I worked in that place and slept in that place. I worked for 12 hours a day and I slept on a table there. I worked every day and I never went outside. I had the red card but the guy told me that this paper was not good and that the police would arrest me. He told me for my own safety I should stay inside.… I stayed there for about 7 months. The boss told me that he deducted from my salary the fees for sleeping and for food. For one month I received 50 Euros.[276]

Legal Standards Governing Child Labor

International law does not prohibit all work carried out by children. However, International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions prohibit work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their schooling, their potential, their dignity, and is harmful for their physical, mental, and social development.[277]

Greece is a state party to some of the key conventions prohibiting child labor, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child,[278] but also the ILO Convention No. 182 concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor (Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention), and ILO Convention No. 138 concerning the Minimum Age for Admission to Employment (Minimum Age Convention).[279] Greece has, however, not ratified ILO Convention 184 concerning Safety and Health in Agriculture.[280] The European Social Charter contains additional protective provisions including the child's right to a fair wage and the necessity to limit work hours in accordance with the child's development.[281] International conventions to which Greece is a state party form an integral part of domestic law and prevail over any contrary domestic provision.[282]

Sanctions are provided for by both immigration and labor legislation. Immigration legislation forbids employers to hire aliens without residence permits.[283] If an employer violates the prohibition of child labor, he or she faces imprisonment of up to two years, a fine, and administrative penalties that may include the closing of business.[284] Both provisions extend the same sanctions to the child's guardian.[285]  Despite these legal provisions, employers' who violate them face a low risk of being sanctioned.

Upon Greece's ratification of the Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention in 2001, labor inspectors were tasked to take targeted action to protect children.[286] The Greek government reported for the year 2004 that labor inspectors detected a total of 35 children in prohibited forms of employment. Thirty-three employers were fined and charges were brought against two.[287] In 2005, five employers were charged for the illegal employment of children and 29 fined; two of the cases were in the construction sector. In 2006, charges were brought against two employers and 17 fines were issued, none of them in the construction sector. In 2007, a total of nine employers were charged for the illegal employment of children and 18 were fined, none of them in the construction sector.[288] 

These figures appear low in comparison to the numbers of children believed to be working, based on the testimony of 14 persons interviewed by Human Rights Watch who performed or witnessed prohibited forms of child labor.[289] Furthermore, no case of child labor was uncovered in the agricultural sector, where we recorded most testimonies of child labor.[290] We asked the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection whether unaccompanied children face a particular risk of performing child labor and what programs were in place to mitigate such risks. The Ministry replied that "special care is taken for unaccompanied children seeking asylum, prosecutors are notified of a child's illegal entry, and children are separated from adults in detention."[291] Sadly, as this report uncovers, this statement does not appear to reflect reality.

Trafficking

As the authorities assess vulnerability, as discussed in chapter II above, one of the issues they need to be alert to is the possibility that unaccompanied children are victims of trafficking. The reality is that if not already in hands of traffickers bringing them into Greece, the failure of the protection system means unaccompanied children are at high risk of falling into their hands once they are in the country. The inadequate procedures followed by police-or perhaps, more accurately, the lack of procedures-mean that trafficking victims are not identified. The inadequate provision of care makes it easy for trafficking gangs to operate. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the authorities have not adapted to the new forms of trafficking that involve child victims and various forms of exploitation, not just sexual. Instead, we were told, in the minds of officials trafficking is still largely associated with women from Eastern European countries trafficked for sexual exploitation.[292]

Unaccompanied Girls

Sexual exploitation is, of course, one of a range of significant risks. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography noted as early as 2005 that the trafficking of unaccompanied girls from Africa into Greece for sexual exploitation could be a new trend in the country.[293]

Currently, very little is known about the fate of unaccompanied girls. There are no specialized shelters for girl victims of trafficking (that provide higher level of security and address specific needs these girls face) nor for unaccompanied girls in general.[294] Rigorous in depth research is needed to document their situation. In the course of researching this report, Human Rights Watch collected only anecdotal stories about their fate. However, practitioners who work within NGOs and are familiar with the phenomenon of child trafficking in Greece state that girls end up in sexual exploitation, including working as prostitutes in Athens.[295]

Human Rights Watch interviewed three unaccompanied girl children in detention who were possible trafficking victims. A 16-year-old girl from the Philippines said to us she was going to join "her aunt" in Athens to take up a job as a domestic worker.[296] She later absconded from a care center jointly with a younger Somali girl. Both told staff that they had "husbands" in Athens.

Ten-year-old Fatime S., an unaccompanied Somali girl, told us that she had been detained for 15 days at the Petru Ralli detention center in Athens when we met her. It was her fourth time in detention:

My name is Fatime. I am 10 years old. I told the police how old I am, but they haven't had another place for me. I was arrested at the border. I got a paper to leave in one month. I've been in this jail for 15 days. But before I was arrested in the airport twice and released. I am alone. I have nobody here. If they release me, I'll just go to Omonia square. I have no one. I have been in Greece for six months. I came from the airport.[297]

The girl had not been seen by any specialized organization since she was detained. When we asked staff at the detention center about the procedures in place for a girl like her, they were unable to explain to us the course of action to protect her from harm or refer her to specialized services.[298] 

Unaccompanied Boys

Human Rights Watch interviewed a dozen unaccompanied boys shortly after their release from the detention center in Mitilini, Lesvos Island. They all had been taken to the port after their release, given a ticket for the Athens-bound ferry, and were left to fend for themselves without further information or assistance. Among them was Shakib K., a 15-year-old Afghan boy. Based on his description about his migration from Pakistan, he appeared to have been trafficked and to remain at imminent risk:

My uncle told me I should go to Greece and that my life would be better. My father didn't accept but my uncle said I had to go. My uncle has to pay about 6,000 USD.… He told me that I would work and pay him back.… There are two smugglers, one is in Pakistan and one in Athens. They said they will take me like a prisoner unless they are given the money. I think my uncle will pay them.… The smuggler knows that I'm on the ferry. When I arrive the smuggler waits for me and will take me to a house to call Pakistan. If [my uncle] doesn't give the money they will keep me.[299]

Shakib K. had been released from detention that day with a large number of adults and children. He had been given a deportation order, which required him to leave the country within 30 days. There was no interpreter in the Mitilini detention center on Lesvos Island and authorities did not conduct an interview with him.[300]

Once the ferry arrived, Human Rights Watch stood close by and watched the boys disembark. Shakib K., together with other boys, was swiftly approached by a contact. The Human Rights Watch interpreter was a young-looking Afghan and mingled with the boys from the ferry. He was promptly approached by a stranger who offered him a place to stay. The price for the accommodation, he was told, would be discussed once they get there.[301] Several police officers stood 15 meters away from this scene and took no interest in where these boys were going next.

Inadequate Procedures Fail to Identify Trafficking or Risk of Falling Victim to It

Indeed, officials appear to remain blind to the inadequacy of their procedures which mean that trafficking-and the risks that children of becoming trafficking victims-may not be recognized. Visiting the Kyprinou immigration detention facility in Fylakio, Human Rights Watch asked the senior official in charge (the chief of police in Orestiada, in the Evros border region) whether there might be trafficking victims among half a dozen women of Eastern European origin and a number of unaccompanied children, among them a 12-year-old girl, at the center. He responded: "we don't have trafficking victims. I'm trained on this matter and we can identify them."[302] Despite his assurances, Human Rights Watch noted that there was no interpreter among the staff in the detention center. Furthermore, the Afghan girl who traveled with her underage brother and cousin told Human Rights Watch that neither she nor her brother had been interviewed since their arrival. They were only told they would be detained for three months, and their presence was dealt with as if they were adults.[303] Human Rights Watch was unable to further investigate whether other children with special needs were present in the center because the authorities did not grant us permission to speak to all detainees.

Human Rights Watch received credible information that on one of the Aegean islands, girls who were possible trafficking victims had been detained together with their presumed trafficker. Although the police were alerted about the presence of the presumed trafficker, the police released them together. "For the police, it's too much trouble to protect these girls," we were told.[304]

Lack of Safeguards on Release from Detention

The Samos chief of police described to Human Rights Watch how unaccompanied children were released from the Samos detention center: "If the next day a relative comes and asks for the child's release we release the child-even the next day."[305] When we questioned further how the identity of the relative was verified, he reconsidered his statement and said they would not hand over the child if they are not sure that the person is indeed a relative. He added that children rarely possessed documents. His answers strongly suggest that no standard procedures are followed when persons who claim to be children's relatives or care-givers seek their release.

The chief of police in Orestiada, where unaccompanied children go after their release, told Human Rights Watch: "unaccompanied children stay up to three months [in detention]. Relatives or friends come to pick them up.… Normally somebody comes to pick them up. They don't travel alone."[306] We were told, however, that in practice children are released with a deportation order and no further assistance.[307]

The lack of safeguards leaves the way wide open for traffickers to exploit the desperate situation in which many unaccompanied children find themselves. Gangs recruit children for labor exploitation from places such as Athens and Patras (see the first part of this chapter). They also operate in public places where children can be easily approached and lure them with the promise to take them to another country. Fourteen-year-old Wali P. told us:

One person told me he could take children to Europe-that was in Monastiraki. He was an Afghan. He told me there is a lady from another European country and she wants to bring children to another country. That lady would come and bring other children abroad if they didn't have their fingerprints taken. They asked me if I wanted to go. He told me it would not cost anything.… They only want children who are alone. He told me that lady was from a refugee organization, maybe UNICEF.[308]

The Convention on the Rights of the Child obliges states parties to take all appropriate measures to prevent the abduction of, the sale of or traffic in children for any purpose or any form.[309] The Convention's Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography recognizes that particularly vulnerable groups, including girl children, are at greater risk of sexual exploitation and it calls on states parties to pay particular attention to the protection of such children.[310]

Both Amnesty International and the US Department of State have criticized authorities' failure to correctly identify trafficking victims.[311] Furthermore, Greek legislation only recognizes and protects trafficking victims from expulsion if the victim has "shown a clear intention to cooperate."[312] Victims are given a 30-day reflection period to decide whether they will cooperate in the investigation of traffickers. Only if they agree to cooperate are they granted victim status and entitled to temporary residence.There are no provisions that would balance this requirement to cooperate with the risk of reprisal victims or their families may face.[313] Only few victims are granted trafficking victim status.[314] Human Rights Watch asked the Ministry of Justice to provide us the number of children who had been recognized as trafficking victims and eligible for temporary residence. As of the time of writing we have not received a reply.

The definition of trafficking in children in Greek legislation is not as far-reaching as those in international treaties and European law. A trafficker in Greece can be convicted if he or she exploits a person by using violence, threat or coercion, exercise of control or abuse of power, deceit, or takes advantage of a person's vulnerability. The Trafficking Protocol makes trafficking of a child a crime even if none of these means are used.[315]

Among the key international treaties combating trafficking in human beings, Greece has ratified only the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography.[316] It has signed but not ratified the United Nations Convention on Combating Transnational Organized Crime and its supplementing Protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children.[317] Greece has signed but not ratified the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings and it is among the signatories of the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse.[318]