Migrant children from Africa are being sexually exploited to obtain safe passage from Italy to France, local media citing a recent report from a children's charity reported Sunday.

The report, issued by the non-governmental organization Save the Children Italy, said the minors, mostly from Africa, are being required to pay 50 to 150 euros (58 to 175 US dollars) for a safe passage on the border.

The children are forced by smugglers to perform sex acts if they cannot afford the fee. The minors are also abused to get food or shelter.

The charity group said that about 1,900 girls had been sexually exploited across Italy between January 2017 and March 2018.

"These are very young, and particularly at-risk girls, who are among the invisible flow of unaccompanied migrant minors in transit at the northern Italian border who, in an attempt to reunite with their relatives or acquaintances in other European countries, are deprived of the opportunity to travel safely and legally," Raffaela Milano, director of Italy-Europe programs at Save the Children, said in the report.

The report said that migrant children were also being sexually exploited in other parts of Italy, including Rome. The organization has called for the protection of the children.

"At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the anti-trafficking network at the European and international level to target criminal networks that speculate on the suffering of minors and to strengthen law enforcement measures in a widespread way throughout the territory," Milano said.

The recent report follows a previous one issued by Oxfam, a Britain-based confederation of 20 independent charitable organizations, which first reported in June that French border police "illegally" sent migrant children back to Italy.

According to the Oxfam report, at least 16,500 migrants, of whom a quarter were children, had passed through the Italian border town of Ventimiglia in the nine months to April 2018.

"Europe must fix its asylum system, and share the responsibility for hosting asylum seekers. Governments and border officials should protect the special needs and rights of children instead of illegally pushing them back to other countries. Children should never be kept in jail cells or subjected to cruel abuse," said Elisa Bacciotti, a member at Oxfam Italy.

(Top image: A volunteer from Save the Children helps a migrant girl in Ventimiglia, northern Italy, near the French border, August 9, 2017. /VCG Photo)