More than 50,000 underage migrants disappeared in Europe in three years

NOS News•today, 2:52 PM

In the past three years, 51,433 children have disappeared from asylum centers in Europe. This is evident from research by the journalist collective Lost in Europe in collaboration with the Belgian broadcaster VRT. It is unknown where these minors have gone.

This concerns children who have traveled to Europe unaccompanied and have reported to an asylum seeker center in a Member State. They were registered as missing there after their disappearance. This usually concerns children between the ages of 12 and 18, but very young children are also ‘lost’.

The number of more than 50,000 is more than double compared to the three years before. In the period from 2018 to 2020, 18,292 missing persons were registered. The researchers have seen a significant increase in children coming from Afghanistan in recent years, where the Taliban have returned to power since 2021. In addition, Austria now has more insight into the figures, and the numbers there are also significant.

“But the actual numbers are much higher,” says Geesje van Haren of journalist collective Lost in Europe. Of the 31 European countries from which data was requested on these missing persons, 16 countries provided them. Greece, Spain and France were unable or unwilling to provide data. “And these are large countries with enormous migration flows,” Van Haren emphasizes.

At the top of the list is Italy, with almost 23,000 missing minors. That country is often the first country of arrival in Europe and young migrants usually have another country of destination in mind, for example because they have family there.

It also happens that migrants consciously go under the radar, because they would rather live illegally than have to return to their country of origin. They also regularly fall into the hands of human traffickers, after which they are exploited and have to work in cannabis cultivation or prostitution.

“These young people are extremely vulnerable to this, also in the Netherlands,” says Van Haren. 15,404 unaccompanied minor asylum seekers were registered here in the past three years. Of them, 850 have disappeared.

“In the Netherlands, unaccompanied minor asylum seekers are accommodated in hotels. They receive too little education, there is too little guidance and hardly any daytime activities. They have no money and debts. It is the cocktail for exploitation.”

There are advanced plans to centrally register this group within Europe. The idea is to keep track of fingerprints of the young people. “A very good development,” says Van Haren, but she also makes comments. “For example, we know stories of young people who have to file their fingerprints under pressure from criminal organizations.”

The solution is not obvious. “We take a lot of action against human trafficking on the edges of Europe. But we are not very good at doing anything against human trafficking yet.”