A shocking case of suspected child trafficking has highlighted the plight of vulnerable children in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
31 children were recently found living in squalor on the outskirts of the town of Brčko. Our correspondent Aljoša Milenković reports.
31 children were recently found living in squalor on the outskirts of the town of Brčko. Our correspondent Aljoša Milenković reports.
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00:00The children were kept in this house.
00:03Nobody is here now, and a police car is parked outside.
00:08There are signs children once lived here, but a glimpse through the window shows it was no happy home.
00:17Some children's clothing is still on the washing line.
00:22We cannot confidently say what exactly caused this case or how long the children were kept there.
00:31What we do know is that they lived in a private house under inadequate conditions.
00:36We don't know who left the children there or who was supposed to pick them up.
00:41Several arrests have been made, but there are still far more questions than answers.
00:47And the local Red Cross is now taking care of the children.
00:51When we took in the children, they were infested with parasites.
00:57As far as we can remember, we haven't had cases like this in the area before.
01:03And here are the only two photos leaked to the public right after the authorities entered this house.
01:10Of the 31 children found in that house, people claiming to be either parents or relatives of 11 of them got in touch with the authorities.
01:20As for the remaining 20, nobody knows who their next of kin is.
01:25These children are effectively abandoned.
01:29The organization Missing Children Europe says around a quarter of a million children go missing each year in Europe.
01:37That's about one child every two minutes.
01:40Among the most vulnerable are the children of migrants.
01:44An international investigation shows that for the past three years, an average of 47 migrant children a day have gone missing in Europe.
01:54Many of the children found living in this house are believed to be foreigners, which means this is now an international investigation.
02:03Aljoša Milenković, CGTN, Brčko in Bosnia and Herzegovina.