UN flags increasing number of children on voyage to Italy through Libya.

A report released by the United Nations Children Fund, UNICEF, indicates that almost twenty-six thousand children, most of whom are unaccompanied, crossed the Mediterranean last year.

The UNICEF report also noted that many of the children suffer from violence and sexual abuse at the hands of smugglers and traffickers.

But due to fear of arrest and deportation, the victims rarely report their abuse.

It further observed that there is a lack of food, water and medical care in Libya’s detention centres.