UN warns children are at risk of exploitation in Venezuela

**Janet Jaleel** (0:00)
This is The Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Janet Jaleel, and in the early hours of Thursday, the 2nd of July, these are our main stories. Warnings that children in Venezuela could fall victim to traffickers as a number of dead from the earthquakes a week ago rises to well over 2,000. We look at why millions of travellers in Europe have been suffering long delays, and how the powerful opioid fentanyl is affecting the Somali community in the US.
Also in this podcast, Canada is joining the Eurovision Song Contest from next year.

**Matthew McLean** (0:41)
I think it's an amazing opportunity in terms of Canada actually presenting how excellent and how exciting. Our musical products have been for decades and that just really haven't been seen outside of our specific borders.

**Janet Jaleel** (0:58)
A week on from the devastating double earthquake in Venezuela, the number of dead has now risen to 2,300.
With tens of thousands more still unaccounted for, the interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, has announced seven days of mourning. Local communities, frustrated and angry over the government's slow response, are working with rescue teams from around the world in the frantic search through the vast piles of rubble, hoping against hope after the rescue of a three-year-old boy on Tuesday that more lives can be saved. Yigit Olimaye has been speaking to the little boy's aunt and sent this report from one of the worst hit areas, La Guaira.

**Yigit Olimaye** (1:39)
Most countries in the world would struggle to respond to such a brutal disaster. Venezuela was particularly ill-equipped, battered by years of political corruption and economic decline. But its people are showing up. Truckloads of volunteers have been driving into the worst hit areas to offer help. These are construction workers who have come from dozens of miles away.
Venezuela is going through a bad moment. We've come to support the people who are trying to dig out survivors, to help find the missing, however we can. Jean-Pierre Runhell tells us. Are you hopeful that you might still find people alive? Yes, yes, they shouted. Every second is precious.
And it's moments like these that trigger that belief. A three-year-old boy, Clibor Moran, was pulled out from under the rubble after six days by a Jordanian rescue team. Now stable and in hospital, his aunt, Andrina, is by his side.

**Katie Austin** (2:50)
He doesn't even have a single fracture, just some scratches on his arms and legs.

**Bushra Mohammed** (2:54)
He's giving me little kisses.

**Katie Austin** (2:56)
He's talking to me and telling me where it hurts.

**Yigit Olimaye** (3:00)
She also says she has faith the boy's mother, Anna Luz, will be found alive. For thousands, though, their worst fears have been confirmed.
This is the mother of a 44-year-old woman, Tahina Luna. I'm heartbroken, says Tibizze. I didn't leave the site of the collapse for even one second. Her father Clement told us Tahina's body was recovered after six days.

**SPEAKER_6** (3:32)
When they removed the rubble and brought out the bodies, it was like a horror movie.
You had to see if the body belonged to your family or not. And you didn't know what to think, whether it was better to find them or not.

**Yigit Olimaye** (3:48)
Tahina, a surfer and an active member of the community was also the mother of two children, 14-year-old daughter Salen and 21-year-old Jonathan.
In northern Venezuela, tens of thousands are homeless. Even more are reliant on aid for basic needs. This is a cue for a small handout of food. Even before these disasters struck, this was a country grappling with an acute economic crisis with nearly a quarter of the population requiring humanitarian assistance just to survive. It's quite clear that this country cannot even begin to recover without a massive global effort. It will take years to rebuild what has been lost.

**Janet Jaleel** (4:35)
Yougita Limaya there with that report on the scale of the destruction caused by last week's earthquakes in Venezuela.
Here's one stark figure. The UN's children's agency, Unicef, says 680,000 youngsters need humanitarian assistance and it's warning that many of them could fall victim to child traffickers. Joe English is from Unicef.

**Joe English** (4:59)
We're working with Venezuela's National Child Protection Authority on identifying unaccompanied and separated children. We had missions going out in the first days, making sure that we're identifying them, strengthening referral pathways, all of these things which are absolutely critical in terms of making sure that children who have been separated can be home with their parents if that's possible or with extended family if not and making sure that they are safe. This system is the protection against exploitation.