Over 400 unaccompanied child migrants have entered the country since the beginning of the year

A total of 416 children without parents and relatives have entered Bulgaria illegally since the beginning of the year, according to the Ministry of Interior. Bulgaria is among the European countries with the highest number of unaccompanied refugee and migrant children. Today, May 16, a safe zone for such children was opened in the largest centre for registration and reception of migrants, located in the town of Harmanli (south-central Bulgaria).

12-year-old Mohamed from Syria is one of hundreds of children who have crossed the border without their family. He has been in the centre in Harmanli for six months.

"I came here with a group of people, I was alone, without my family. I was doing a family reunion and waiting for consent to reunite and my family came here," Mohamed Ali said.

The protected area now houses 50 children. Many of the migrants enter the country without documents and it is not easy to establish their identity. Often the youngsters pose as under 18.

"It is extremely difficult to establish whether a person is of age or not, because the responsibility is different," said Kalin Stoyanov, caretaker Minister of Interior.

"If there is any doubt about their identity, an expert examination is appointed at the Interior Ministry's medical institute. By the bone indicators of the wrist, the age of the person can be roughly determined," said Nikolai Nikolov, Head of “Migration” at the Ministry of Interior.

A total of 12,000 third-country nationals have illegally tried to cross the Bulgarian-Turkish border since the beginning of the year, compared with 42,000 in the same period last year. Although the number is decreasing, the challenges facing this country remain, especially after the adoption of the new migration pact.

"The pact sets even more serious conditions for the country because practically everything will have to be done here at the border - from the identification of migrants entering the country to their possible revision," said Iliana Iotova, Vice-President of the Republic of Bulgaria.

According to Iotova, the principle of solidarity and relocation will not work and not a small number of countries will prefer to pay a sum into the European budget instead of accepting migrants.