World News Brief: Migrant children in Europe, Greenland forcing contraceptive scandal, FAO famine update

More than 31,000 children arrived in Greece, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria and Malta last year – 25 percent fewer than in 2024.

Of the more than 4,600 teenagers and young adults aged 15 to 24 surveyed, nearly half reported experiencing physical violence.

One of the main routes migrants are currently taking is through the central Mediterranean from Libya and Tunisia in north Africa to Italy, according to the UN migration agency. IOM.

IOM spokesperson Kennedy Omondi said there must be stronger cooperation between European countries and countries along migration routes to protect children traveling alone.

“The latest data in our report shows how vulnerable children are to violence and exploitation when safe routes are limited and they are forced to rely on traffickers,” the spokesperson said.

Confined and forced

Among teenagers and young adults who made the trip, 28 percent said they were held against their will and 17 percent said they were forced to work. Nearly eight in 10 are men.

A 19-year-old migrant worker from Bangladesh quoted in the report said that his superiors in Libya took his passport and forced him into forced labor, as well as beating him when he was deemed not working hard enough.

A 20-year-old woman from Liberia said she arrived in Algeria where she was raped and forced to work as a cleaner. When she was seven months pregnant, she fled by boat to Spain.

Most cases of abuse occurred in Libya, according to the IOM. More than 20,000 of the 31,100 children who reached Europe via mixed migration routes last year arrived without parents or guardians, according to a joint report with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and refugee agencies, UNHCR.

IOM Director General Amy Pope called for stronger cooperation between European countries and countries along migration routes to protect children traveling alone. Ms Pope also called for action to tackle smuggling networks and the criminals who exploit them.

Greenland scandal: UN experts warn against minimizing violations

UN independent human rights expert had warned about it attempts to undermine forced contraception on thousands of Inuit women and girls in Greenland threatens the prospects for real recovery.

These concerns follow reports of dissent submitted by two former members of an expert group appointed by the Greenlandic Government.

The report concluded that there is no empirical basis for assuming that Danish or Greenlandic authorities deliberately and systematically implanted intrauterine devices without consent.

Facts before healing

Both governments have acknowledged that Indigenous women and girls experienced the practice for decades in public service institutions and have apologized.

However, the independent experts – who do not receive salaries for their work and are not UN staff – said a true resolution could not be achieved without a “clear, accurate and irrefutable record of historical facts”.

They urge Denmark to make its compensation scheme more linguistically and culturally accessible, ensure women with disabilities are not forgotten and address wider abuses such as forced adoptions and removal of Inuit children from their parents.

“Their dignity, voice, and rights must remain at the center of all efforts toward truth, justice, healing, and reconciliation,” the statement said. Human Rights Council-said the appointed experts.

FAO said agricultural aid could not be delayed

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (F.A.O) own calls for urgent funding to help families in the Near East and North Africa continue to grow food and earn a living as conflict, displacement and climate stress exacerbate hunger.

More than 45 million people across the region face crisis-level hunger or worse.

At the same time, lack of funding limits support to protect food production.

Funding gap

In Sudan, where 19.5 million people face high levels of acute food insecurity, only 23 percent of the $193 million needed under the 2026-2028 emergency response plan has been funded. In Yemen, FAO has secured less than one percent of the $87.9 million needed by 2027.

In Lebanon, more than one million people were displaced following the escalation of conflict in March 2026, and more than 22 percent of agricultural land was reportedly damaged.

“Investing early in seeds, livestock, water and other agricultural support can protect livelihoods, prevent famine from worsening, and reduce humanitarian needs over time,” said FAO Deputy Director General Beth Bechdol.