Thousands of missing children not reported in EU

By Darren Ennis

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Hundreds of children go missing in
Europe every day without being reported to the authorities, the
European Union’s justice chief said on Wednesday.

Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini said he believed some
of the 25 EU countries were not taking the issue seriously and
it was impossible to determine the size of the problem.

“Statistics regarding sexual exploitation of children and
missing children are generally unavailable in the EU,” he said
in a statement.

“Data gathering is seldom organized at a national level and
the available data are largely difficult to access.”

The commissioner was speaking on the eve of International
Missing Children’s Day, aimed at highlighting the problem and
increasing awareness across the EU. People will be encouraged
to wear a “forget-me-not” flower.

According to statistics available to the Commission, an
estimated 70,000 children go missing every year in Britain.

Yet the data show a far smaller number of children — 1,850
– went missing in Italy last year, while in Belgium 1,022
missing children were reported to the police.

Frattini said the problem was “complex and multifaceted”
and could be solved only by an approach that was better
harmonized at an international level.

One of the problems, according to the Commission, is that
there are various types of missing children including runaways,
abductees, and those injured or lost while traveling.

The Commission intends to put forward proposals on the
issue in July, including a common European telephone number for
an immediate response when reporting a missing child.

“Experience proves that gathering information in the first
hours after the disappearance is crucial for the success of
finding a missing child,” Frattini said.