Europe’s missing refugee children

In January, the EU’s criminal intelligence agency Europol said at least 10,000 unaccompanied child refugees had vanished after arriving in Europe, at risk of falling prey to trafficking gangs. According to the European Commission, missing unaccompanied children are the responsibility of individual EU member states, but a February report by Missing Children Europe – an umbrella group of some 30 child protection groups – highlighted a “clear lack of ownership” in cases involving unaccompanied children. https://bit.ly/2raPARG

The world’s deadliest migration route

One in every 14 people has died this year crossing the sea from Libya to Italy, now known as the world’s deadliest migration route, the International Organization for Migration says. Refugees still pay enormous sums of money for space on an unsafe vessel that may not withstand the journey, and nongovernmental organizations in patrol boats are among the few forms of protection for those being ferried…

Five likely mass graves found in DRC

The UN says its investigators have discovered five probable mass grave sites in Ituri province in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where an outbreak of ethnic violence has killed at least 263 people. Violence across the eastern DRC’s borderlands with Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi has spiked since President Joseph Kabila refused to step aside at the end of his mandate in 2016. https://reut.rs/2KeKTzf

US: almost 1,500 migrant children went missing last year

US Federal officials lost track of nearly 1,500 migrant children last year after a government agency placed the minors in the homes of adult sponsors in communities across the country, according to testimony before a Senate subcommittee Thursday. Since the dramatic surge of border crossings in 2013, the federal government has placed more than 180,000 unaccompanied minors with parents or other adult sponsors who are expected to care for the children…

Mexico: army’s role in human rights abuses including extrajudicial killings

In the more than 11 years since Mexico sent tens of thousands of army and navy personnel into the streets to battle the drug cartels, the armed forces have faced repeated accusations of torture, illegal arrests and extrajudicial killings. Between 2012 and 2016, just 3 percent of investigations into crimes allegedly committed by soldiers resulted in convictions, according to an analysis by the think tank Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA). https://lat.ms/2Jrk1dR

Swedish archaeologists reveal bodies from 5th Century

Swedish archaeologists have found evidence of a 5th century massacre on the south-eastern island of Oland, second largest Swedish island. In a paper published in the journal Antiquity, the team writes about the 1,500-year-old attack and dozens of corpses that have been found in the walled fort where their bodies were left to decompose. Only three of more than 50 houses…

Missing Mexican students killed by gang

Three Mexican film students who went missing in March in Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco, were kidnapped, tortured and killed, and their bodies were dissolved in acid, authorities said on Monday. The students — Javier Salomón Aceves Gastélum, Daniel Díaz and Marco Ávalo — were last seen on 19 March; state prosecutors said criminals had confused them with members of a rival gang. https://nbcnews.to/2HoF9kq

Nigeria: family sues police over extrajudicial killing

The father of a 30-year old Maritime Academy graduate who was allegedly killed in a village in Plateau State in Central Nigeria by officers of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad on 18 January, has sued the Inspector General of Police. The case, filed on Tuesday, is for the enforcement of the right to life and the dignity of the human person, in line with Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution. https://bit.ly/2FefLMo

Belgium: 600 unaccompanied minor migrants have…