Video: Greece Should Protect Lone Migrant Children

Flawed and inadequate procedures leave unaccompanied migrant children on the Greek island of Lesbos housed with unrelated adults, vulnerable to abuse, and unable to access the specific care they need.

Under Greek and international law, unaccompanied children are entitled to special care and protection. But flawed age assessment procedures mean that some of these children are wrongly deemed adults during registration. Other children claim to be adults believing it will allow them to avoid detention or because of bad advice by adults, but then realize they have made a mistake and try to persuade the authorities to register them correctly. They can spend months trying to change their official status, and in meantime often continue to be treated as adults.