A recent survey conducted by a European journalism project revealed that more than 50,000 unaccompanied migrant children went missing after setting foot on European soil.
"Italy has the highest number of registered missing unaccompanied minors, with 22,899, followed by Austria (20,077), Belgium (2,241), Germany (2,005), and Switzerland (1,226),” according to the Lost in Europe project, which gathered data from 13 European countries from 2021 - 2023.
It said the number of missing children may be even higher because data is often unreliable and incomplete, and many European countries do not collect data on missing unaccompanied minors.
"These shocking findings underscore the seriousness of the issue, with thousands of children missing and their whereabouts unknown,” it said.
Aagje Ieven, head of Missing Children Europe, said, "The increased number of reports on missing unaccompanied minors serves as a sharp reminder of the giant iceberg that looms beneath the surface.”
There is no cohesive approach to address the issue of missing migrant children in Europe, according to an inquiry by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
