EU states to take in 1,600 migrant children in Greece

A group of European Union countries has agreed to take in at least 1,600 migrant children in Greece traveling without their parents, with the first unaccompanied minors likely to find homes in Luxembourg as soon as next week, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said Friday.

There are currently over 42,000 migrants living in overcrowded camps in the Greek islands, including about 5,500 unaccompanied minors. According to the police agency Europol around 10 percent of them are younger than 14.

Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Portugal have offered to take them in, and Johansson said that at least two other countries expressed an interest in getting involved during a meeting Friday of EU interior ministers. She did not name them.

Earlier this week, Johansson said that migrant children traveling alone "face violence, abuse and exploitation. Many of...