But the journey reveals itself to be unexpectedly terrible: ending up in the hands of criminal organizations, the migrants are subjected to ill-treatment and torture, treated as animals, given little water and little food, and not rarely killed to remove and sell their vital organs. Human trafficking is a business of true horror.
"Don Bosco Missions" along with the International Development Volunteering (VIS), an NGO, has welcomed the appeal of Pope Francis who has asked for the international community to overcome its global indifference in the face of the massacres of which migrants are victims. With the "Stop Tracking" campaign, a decision was made to launch a comprehensive awareness-raising and training program in Sub-Saharan Africa so those who decide to embark on their journey are aware of the serious risks they are about to face, while providing those who are staying with concrete opportunities.
Since 2008, about 75% of young people arriving on the Italian coastlines consist of unaccompanied minors from 80 different nationalities, but the majority are from Egypt, Gambia, Guinea, Senegal, Tunisia and Pakistan.
Pope Francis discussed the issue on World Day of Migrants and Refugees: underage migrants are "three times helpless because they are minors, because they are foreigners and because they are defenseless when, for various reasons, they are forced to live away from their land of origin and are separated from family affections."
Paola Schinelli, a VIS cooperator in Senegal, speaks of the reality of young people who decide to leave their country in pursuit of a European dream: "We talk about migration, and the image printed in our heads is that of small groups of men, adults, ready to face anything to arrive in Europe and find an opportunity for themselves and their own families who've remained in their homeland. The reality is different: they are mostly young boys, minors traveling alone, because it is they who are the hope for the future, a radiant future for an Africa that waits; for those families, mothers and fathers, who have renounced seeing their son become a man in exchange for a little money that will make their younger brothers and sisters live better lives."
More information on the "Don Bosco Missions" website.
