Children as young as 12 and other vulnerable migrants have physically abused, detained and forcibly returned to Italy by French border guards in breach of international norms, Oxfam said. Oxfam said some 16,500 refugees and migrants — a quarter of them unaccompanied children — passed through Ventimiglia, a small town about seven kilometres from the French border, in the nine months to April.

The report said children complained about being "physically and verbally abused, detained overnight in cells without food, water or blankets and with no access to an official guardian," all contrary to French and EU law.