"No one would risk their life at sea if there were a better way. But there's no alternative. That's why we risk our lives."

These are the words of a 15-year-old boy from Guinea rescued as an unaccompanied minor at sea by the Berlin-based NGO, SOS Humanity.

The organization, which has been saving refugees and migrants at sea for the last decade, warns that more and more children and minors are setting out alone from Libya or Tunisia to Europe in overcrowded boats that are often not seaworthy. Around a fifth of those rescued have been minors.

Esther, a German clinical psychologist, volunteered as a mental health officer on Mediterranean rescue missions in November and December 2024.

During a press conference in Berlin on Tuesday, where Esther did not give her surname, she said that during her time at sea six boats carrying 347 people were rescued. Among them were 43 young people, mostly unaccompanied minors, in poor physical and mental health.

"They'd often been at sea without food or drink for several days and nights, were dehydrated, seasick and often had burns from fuel and salt water. Many also had scabies or other infections and wounds, because they had been held in camps in Libya for long periods. All of them were emotionally exhausted," she said.

Conditions in Libyan detention camps -- where those intercepted by the the country's coast guard are returned after failed attempts to cross the Mediterranean -- are catastrophic, especially for young people.

For years, Libya -- which, under a multimillion-euro agreement with the European Union, is meant to take over border control and drastically reduce migrant numbers -- has faced intense criticism for serious human rights violations.

"Young people told me about extreme sexual violence, torture, child labor, losing relatives and cases of human trafficking involving women," Esther recounted. "Some of these young people showed me physical evidence of what they've been through. Some had scars from torture, as well as photos and videos taken at the Libyan camps showing them tied up and beaten."

Minors who manage to escape from the camps face even greater danger during the crossing.

According to UNICEF estimates from April, around 3,500 children have died or disappeared in the last 10 years while attempting to reach Italy via the central Mediterranean route. That means nearly one dead or missing child per day for an entire decade.

This statistic has SOS Humanity calling for an immediate end to the EU's cooperation with Libya and Tunisia.

"The proportion of minors among those fleeing has actually been rising steadily over the last 10 years. Around one-fifth of all arrivals in Italy are minors. In our rescues, the average is even more than one-third," said Till Rummenhohl, managing director of SOS Humanity.

"We recently had a whole boat of just minors, 120, on board. They were completely panicked young people who were traveling alone and jumped into the water out of fear of the Libyan coast guard," he added.

The growing number of children and adolescents embarking on the dangerous journey to Europe may worsen in the future, warned Lanna Idriss, the head of SOS Children's Villages Worldwide. The reason: the US government under President Donald Trump has dissolved the development aid agency USAID, with dramatic consequences.

In a study published this summer, the medical journal The Lancet calculated that USAID cuts could result in more than 14 million deaths globally over the next five years, including up to 5 million children under the age of 5. Germany has also cut its development aid by almost €1 billion ($1.2 billion).

"We are entering a vicious cycle that will lead to more children taking this route," said Idriss, citing Somalia as an example. "The country was 80% dependent on USAID. Last year, we reached 4.5 million children and adolescents in Somalia; this year, only 1.3 million. Why? Because the camps intended to support these children have been empty since the summer."

Vera Magali Keller heads a law firm in Berlin that specializes in supporting humanitarian organizations, including those that carry out sea rescues.

Children and young people must be given priority protection and evacuation during sea rescues, the lawyer told DW, referring to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which all UN member states have committed themselves.

"In several European countries, there are special prospects for obtaining residence, protection entitlements and rights to family reunification. In Italy, for example, these often apply until the age of legal adulthood. As a general rule, children and adolescents must be accommodated separately from adults and given special protection. Detention should be avoided wherever possible," said Keller.

SOS Humanity has announced plans to deploy another rescue vessel in the Mediterranean in 2026. The ship will primarily operate off the coast of Tunisia, searching for migrant boats and monitoring human rights violations.

To do this, the sea rescue organization will rely on donations, as the German government has discontinued its annual €2 million funding for civilian sea rescue. This is one reason why Keller is pessimistic about the future.

"Given the current political and legal developments, I don't see any positive prospects," she said. "I fear that the criminalization and repression of civilian sea rescue will intensify under the current coalition. The already disastrous protection and reception standards for refugees in Europe will likely continue to deteriorate."

Alone at sea, unaccompanied refugee minors in mortal danger