NOS News•today, 04:00
The number of children abducted from or to the Netherlands has decreased for the first time in four years. The Center for International Child Abduction (IKO) reports this in its annual report. The number of abducted children fell from 292 in 2022 to 260 last year.
In almost all cases, one of the parents was the abductor, usually the child’s mother. Nearly half of the abducted children were 5 years old or younger.
From the Netherlands, children were most often taken to Germany (9), Turkey (7) and Belgium (7). The countries from which children were most often abducted to the Netherlands were Belgium (7) and France (4).
It is not known in how many cases the children are still abducted.
More mediation
IKO attributes the decrease in the number of abducted children mainly to the increased focus on prevention. For example, the center organized mediation meetings between parents more often.
Furthermore, parents, relatives and professionals asked the center for advice more often than before. In total there were 12,733 contact moments with them, an increase of 8 percent compared to 2022.
