ISIS fanatics are now radicalising CHILD refugees and sending them alone into Europe to carry out attacks, counter-extremism group claims
Hundreds of unaccompanied refugee children have gone missing in the UK since migrating
TERROR groups like ISIS are radicalising CHILD refugees and sending them alone into Europe to carry out attacks, a counter-extremism group has warned.
A report from the Quilliam Foundation revealed that hundreds of unaccompanied asylum seeker children have gone missing in the UK since migrating.
Experts warned human smugglers prey on vulnerable children and then fund the youngsters’ passage to Europe.
Terrorists deliberately target refugee camps in conflict zones so they can buy the allegiance of desperate youngsters with food, aid and education.
"Children and young people who are indoctrinated and recruited by IS are an important resource," the report states.
“Numerous extremist groups also use education to bolster recruitment.
“They prey on refugee children’s lack of mental and physical resilience, a common consequence of prolonged displacement.”
The extremist groups are actively infiltrating refugee communities and providing aid where state services cannot.
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ISIS often exploits food shortages among refugees by handing out supplies in exchange for fighters.
Vulnerable youngsters are then brainwashed and radicalised through education before being abducted.
The Quilliam Foundation said ISIS, al-Shabaab and Boko Haram are just some of the groups that buy allegiance from refugees by funding travel or working with traffickers.
The Taliban also uses children in both support and combat roles.
“Children are often abducted and deprived of their right to education and healthcare,” the report states.
It stated how three boys, aged 6, 8, and 10, were used by the Taliban to transport pressure-plate Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in a wheelbarrow in Afghanistan.
Two were killed and one injured when the IEDs detonated prematurely.
The report also pointed out sexual violence ties women and young girls to the terror groups through rape, forced marriage and impregnation.
Figures from 2015 show 340 unaccompanied children went missing in the UK between January and September.
Of this number, 132 remained missing at the end of 2015.
“Some run away from the fear of not being granted asylum, others fall victim to abduction, trafficking, sexual and economic exploitation,” the report states.
The government's answer to this is expected to include measures to increase the amount of available foster placements and supported accommodation.
Lily Caprani, Unicef UK Deputy Executive Director, said: “Currently, too many children with a legal right be in the UK are forced into the hands of criminal traffickers and smugglers because no system is in place to get them to safety.
"We need to ensure that children in danger are helped by the law, cared for and educated, and not pulled into a new horror by the lawless.
"This shows why it is so urgent for our Government to step up efforts to get unaccompanied children out of camps and into homes waiting for them in the UK.”
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