Greece: A lone minor at risk finds protection and his older brother in Germany

126 calls were handled from April to June 2018 by the specialized personnel of the Organization comprising social workers and psychologists. 228 children and adults benefitted from these services © The Smile of the Child / Ilias Spyropoulos

Hageeb was only 16 years old when he and his family had to flee their home in Afghanistan to avoid war and persecution in their hometown. He first travelled to Iran with his mother, young brother and sister, and there they made the perilous crossing into Turkey. During this insecure journey Hageeb got separated from his family and was left unaccompanied. In the hope of finding his family he decided to move on towards Greece and follow the Balkan route reaching Germany.  

However, Hageeb received no news from his family. He settled into a new home, but he desperately sought valuable information for his family without losing the hope of finding his loved ones. More than 2 years passed, and he hadn’t heard anything, until the day he managed to locate his younger brother Jamaludin via facebook. Full of joy he found out that Jamaludin despite alone he was living somewhere on the streets in Greece. He is one of the thousands of unaccompanied minors at risk of being smuggled, trafficked or exploited.  

Hageeb contacted the German NGO Sterni Park seeking help and assistance in order to make sure that Jamaludin was traced in Greece and received the protection and care needed. Subsequently, Sterni Park contacted UNHCR Germany, which encouraged the staff of the German Organization to come in contact with “The Smile of the Child”, national operator of the European Hotline for Missing Children 116000 in Greece.

It was in April 2018 when our staff at the Operational Emergency Center of the Organization received the call from Sterni Park in Germany about the case of Hageeb and Jamaludin. They provided all the relevant information about them asking for our mobilization and assistance in order to locate Jamaludin. Against all odds and following months of agony and uncertainty, Hageeb managed to find one of the members of his lost family.   

“Following the referral of the case at 116000 we passed the information immediately to the Hellenic Police and finally we managed to trace the whereabouts of Jamaludin in the city center in Athens,” social worker Elena Loizou explains. “He was alone wandering around on the streets of the city without adequate shelter and protection.” Obviously, Jamaludin is not the only unaccompanied minor in Greece who lived homeless on the streets and away from any reception facility, child protection facility or without protective custody.  

“We cooperated with the prosecutorial authorities and the social services initiating all the necessary procedures in order to place Jamaludin into a safe protective environment and reunite him with his older brother in Germany”, Elena Loizou highlights.  

During this difficult and complex process, we ensured that Hageeb had constant communication with his brother, whereas our staff made the connection of the German Organization with the protection facility where Jamaludin was placed in order to initiate the reunification process of the two brothers.  

Through referral and cooperation between UNHCR Germany, a national Organization in Germany and “The Smile of the Child” we managed to protect a lone refugee child who was living on the streets of a big city, exposed to great risks, and reunite him with his family. Soon Hageeb and Jamaludin will be together again looking with optimism towards the new chapter of their life in Germany.

Through this successful example of international inter-agency cooperation between state and non-state actors in Greece and Germany, an unaccompanied minor at risk was been traced and placed in a safe protective environment.

With the help of the project “Direct and Holistic Medical and Psychosocial Intervention for Refugee and Migrant Children in Danger in Greece” (funded by the European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations department that “The Smile of the Child” is implementing (April – December 2018), refugee and migrant minors in Greece receive immediate and holistic protection and prevention services through registration of named and anonymous reports and reporting to the authorities, activation of procedures of protection and care, direct intervention for children at risk, counselling support, interpretation services via telephone, guidance and interconnection.   

The story of Hageeb and Jamaludin is one of the many cases of minors at risk along with serious cases of physical, psychological abuse, neglect, child missing cases, vulnerable groups of children at risk of being smuggled, exploited or trafficked.

Through this project 126 calls have been handled from April to June 2018 by the specialized personnel comprising social workers and psychologists, and 228 children and adults have benefitted from the services provided from “The Smile of the Child” with the support of the EU Humanitarian Aid.

*Names have been changed to protect identities

Story by “The Smile of the Child”- Photo © Ilias Spyropoulos