Children as young as seven raped at Greek migrant camps, claim aid groups

Athens: In yet another case of sexual assault involving the migrant population, a report by human rights groups has revealed that children as young as seven are sexually assaulted by male gangs in refugee camps set up in Greece.

The rights group said that the camps are so unsafe that the children are terrified to leave their tents at night and are even scared to go to toilet once it gets dark.

Women, and particularly children, are at the risk of sexual attack, said an aid organisation.

According to a report in The Guardian, a volunteer at the Softex camp in Greece said that a Iraqi family was forced to leave a camp after their 7-year-old daughter was sexually assaulted.

"The girl was lured by a man and taken to a tent where he offered her his mobile phone to play video games. He then zipped up the tent from inside. The girl came back later with scratch marks on her arms and neck," said the volunteer.

The victim later described how she was sexually abused by the man. “The incident has scarred a seven-year-old child for life,” the volunteer added.

This comes in the wake of the brutal gangrape of another 7-year-old girl at a refugee centre in Hamburg, Germany in March.

Another incident involving an Iraqi migrant raping a 10-year-old in an Austrian swimming pool had also become controversial. The migrant, who works as a taxi driver, had claimed that it was a case of ‘sexual emergency’.

Reports have also emerged that young migrant boys are being brutally raped by the local gangs in and near Calaise, France. Several cases of sexual assaults on children have muddled the already raging debate on migrant crisis.