Contact Admin. In Greece, refugees face dire living conditions, limited housing and catastrophically long wait times for their claims. On a square in Athens, unaccompanied boys from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria are increasingly pursuing a last-ditch option for survival: Mohammed is approached by a middle-aged man wearing greasy beige pants, a blue shirt and a blue baseball cap.
Although the man speaks Greek, the year-old boy from Afghanistan knows exactly what he wants. But the man keeps pushing. I will give you food, pay you. The man only stops when he realizes he is being watched.
He then grudgingly walks away and sits down on a nearby bench. From there, he starts scouring the field again, searching for another boy. It was broad daylight on a sunny Tuesday morning on Victoria Square in the heart of Athens. The square has been a meeting place and a makeshift home for thousands of migrants since the refugee crisis hit Greece two years ago - and now it is increasingly becoming a prostitution hub for underage refugees.
Mohammad hasn't gone that far yet, but he says it is only a matter of time until he goes home with a man. He has just 30 euros left in his pocket, and he is quickly losing hope. Have sex with these older men. What should I do? I have no place to stay, nothing to eat. Should I just die in the park? Mohammed says he lost his parents in an attack in Afghanistan. He has been in Athens for a month, he says, after fleeing his home alone and reaching the Greek island of Lesbos last February, where he registered as a minor.
He then claimed to be an adult to escape the violence in the island's notorious Moria camp. Since then, despite looking very much like a teenager, with pimples, a small stature and thin voice, he has been turned away from shelters for minors.
