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The Child Refugees Caught In The Ongoing Migrant Crisis

A girl cries at the “Horgos 2” border crossing into Hungary, near Horgos, Serbia, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015. CREDIT: AP PHOTO/DARKO VOJINOVIC
A girl cries at the “Horgos 2” border crossing into Hungary, near Horgos, Serbia, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015. CREDIT: AP PHOTO/DARKO VOJINOVIC

People around the world were shocked when the body of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi washed up on the shores of Turkey, and the photo led to widespread calls to act on behalf of refugees fleeing their countries. But just two weeks later, the world has seemingly forgotten about refugees, as evident by the number of times GOP candidates focused on the migrant crisis during the primetime Republican primary debate on Wednesday night (spoiler alert: it’s zero).

But the violence in Syria and Afghanistan endures. The flow of refugees remains continuous. And meanwhile, some officials in European countries are responding to the situation in hostile ways.

This week, Hungary sealed its southern border with Serbia while riot police used water cannons and tear gas on the refugees stuck in limbo. Now, more than 7,300 people seeking humanitarian relief or asylum are entering through Croatia instead. Elsewhere, refugees are again turning to the Greek island of Lesbos as the main point of entry into Western Europe after Turkey cracked down on its borders in response to Aylan Kurdi’s death. French authorities, meanwhile, recently evicted more than 600 refugees sleeping in tents near Paris’ Austerliz station and the town-hall of the 18th arrondissement.

Though their names haven’t become as recognizable as Aylan Kurdi’s, there are plenty of children who remain caught in the crosshairs of the ongoing refugee crisis:

Hungary

Soon after Hungarian officials shut down the country’s southern border, refugees shouted “open the door” in English. Riot police responded with tear gas and water cannons.

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“This kind of block cannot be maintained because it not just blocks asylum seekers, it separates the Hungarian communities and it separates families on both sides,” Ferenc Gyurcsany, the former Hungarian prime minister, told the Guardian. “We call the Hungarian government for opening the border again and finding an honest safe solution.”

A migrant pushes a wheelbarrow with children at the “Horgos 2” border crossing into the Hungary, near Horgos, Serbia, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015. CREDIT: AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic
A migrant pushes a wheelbarrow with children at the “Horgos 2” border crossing into the Hungary, near Horgos, Serbia, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015. CREDIT: AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic
Young children eat milk powder as they wait for a bus in a temporary holding center for migrants near the border between Serbia and Hungary in Roszke, southern Hungary, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015. CREDIT: AP Photo/Matthias Schrader
Young children eat milk powder as they wait for a bus in a temporary holding center for migrants near the border between Serbia and Hungary in Roszke, southern Hungary, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015. CREDIT: AP Photo/Matthias Schrader
Afghan girl Parisa Sayed Jalil, 4, rests on her father’s lap in a field, while they and others are detained by Hungarian police on horses for sneaking through Hungary’s border fence with Serbia in Asotthalom, southern Hungary, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015. CREDIT: AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen
Afghan girl Parisa Sayed Jalil, 4, rests on her father’s lap in a field, while they and others are detained by Hungarian police on horses for sneaking through Hungary’s border fence with Serbia in Asotthalom, southern Hungary, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015. CREDIT: AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen

Croatia

This country is now attracting migrants making their way from Africa and the Middle East now that Hungary has sealed off its borders. More than 7,300 people — mostly people fleeing violence in Syria and Afghanistan — have crossed into the country since Tuesday.

Croatia Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic told Channel News 4 on Thursday that “we are absolutely full” and told the United Nations Human Commissioner for Refugees agency that “it’s your problem.” Meanwhile, Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said the country would allow refugees to cross the territory “to where they apparently wish to go,” according to the Guardian.

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Police directed some migrants to trains and buses in Zagreb and other areas, warning them to “avoid walking in areas along the Serbian border that are still being demined from the country’s 1991–95 war,” the Associated Press reported. And riot police are continuously struggling to control refugees as a swell of people streamed past them in a border town.

People lift two children that sit in a twin stroller as they try to get them to safety amid scuffles between migrants and Croatian police officers in Tovarnik, Croatia, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015 CREDIT: AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic
People lift two children that sit in a twin stroller as they try to get them to safety amid scuffles between migrants and Croatian police officers in Tovarnik, Croatia, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015 CREDIT: AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic
A woman carries a baby as she goes through a police cordon in Tovarnik, Croatia, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015. CREDIT: AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic
A woman carries a baby as she goes through a police cordon in Tovarnik, Croatia, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015. CREDIT: AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic

Turkey

Chanting, “Let us go” in English, hundreds of Syrians trying to reach Europe protested in the Turkish city of Edirne on Wednesday night. The government has refused to allow them to move onto Europe from Edirne, a border city six miles from the Greek border and 12 miles from the Bulgarian border. The government has also issued an ultimatum threatening to return them to refugee camps in southern Turkey.

In this photo taken late Wednesday, Sept 16, 2015, a man show a placard as migrants, mostly Syrians, trying to reach Europe rest outside the Turkish city of Edirne, which borders European Union members Greece and Bulgaria. CREDIT: AP Photo/Emrah Gurel
In this photo taken late Wednesday, Sept 16, 2015, a man show a placard as migrants, mostly Syrians, trying to reach Europe rest outside the Turkish city of Edirne, which borders European Union members Greece and Bulgaria. CREDIT: AP Photo/Emrah Gurel
Migrants including these two girls trying to reach Europe walk outside the Turkish city of Edirne, which borders European Union members Greece and Bulgaria, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015. CREDIT: AP Photo/Emrah Gurel
Migrants including these two girls trying to reach Europe walk outside the Turkish city of Edirne, which borders European Union members Greece and Bulgaria, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015. CREDIT: AP Photo/Emrah Gurel
In this photo taken late Wednesday, Sept 16, 2015, migrants, trying to reach Europe demonstrate outside the Turkish city of Edirne, which borders European Union members Greece and Bulgaria. CREDIT: AP Photo/Emrah Gurel
In this photo taken late Wednesday, Sept 16, 2015, migrants, trying to reach Europe demonstrate outside the Turkish city of Edirne, which borders European Union members Greece and Bulgaria. CREDIT: AP Photo/Emrah Gurel

Greece

After Aylan Kurdi’s death, Turkish officials more forcefully cracked down on smuggling in their territory, rerouting much of the Mediterranean human traffic through Lesbos. The Greek island has long been the main point of entry for refugees, with locals seeing as many as 50,000 refugees last month.

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Bu migrants wanting to leave Turkey are finding it difficult to get to Greece. Most recently, Turkish military police barred over 1,000 refugees from leaving a bus station in Edirne this week.

Of the refugees who do make it on shoddy, wooden boats, their attempts could be deadly. Earlier this week, 22 Greece-bound refugees drowned after their boat sank off of Turkey, including 11 women and four children, just 2.5 kilometers from where Aylan Kurdi’s body was found. The bodies were taken to Rhodes in Greece, while survivors were transported to Leros.

Funeral service employees handle the body of a child brought to a morgue on the southeastern Greek island of Rhodes, Monday, Sept. 14, 2015. CREDIT: Argiris Mantikos/Eurokinissi via AP
Funeral service employees handle the body of a child brought to a morgue on the southeastern Greek island of Rhodes, Monday, Sept. 14, 2015. CREDIT: Argiris Mantikos/Eurokinissi via AP
Syrian children try to keep warm as they wait with their families to cross the borde from the northern Greek village of Idomeni to southern Macedonia, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015. CREDIT: AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos
Syrian children try to keep warm as they wait with their families to cross the borde from the northern Greek village of Idomeni to southern Macedonia, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015. CREDIT: AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos
A Syrian woman embraces her children after they arrived from Turkey to Lesbos island, Greece, on a dinghy, Friday, Sept. 11, 2015. CREDIT: AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris
A Syrian woman embraces her children after they arrived from Turkey to Lesbos island, Greece, on a dinghy, Friday, Sept. 11, 2015. CREDIT: AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris