Missing Children Europe

Child sexual abuse, both online and offline, is an escalating issue, with grooming often serving as a precursor. When abuse is intended to occur offline, it is frequently associated with the child going missing. While discussions around internet regulation and legislation continue, offenders still have largely unrestricted access to a vast number of young people online. This has led to an increasing number of young victims, with limited tools available to monitor or stop perpetrators effectively. To prevent grooming, as well as the resulting abuse and disappearances, it is crucial to deepen our understanding of the grooming process, how technology facilitates it, and the means to detect and prevent it. Comprehensive and forward-thinking legislation is also essential to support the deployment of these preventive measures.

In recent years, Missing Children Europe has prioritized combatting child sexual abuse, focusing specifically on online grooming. Our work in this field, as in other thematic areas, includes conducting research, organizing training programs, raising awareness, and advocating at the EU level. The Combating Online Grooming project aims to bridge existing research gaps and enhance understanding of the connections between online grooming, child sexual abuse, and cases of missing children. Donations will also bolster our advocacy for stronger EU policies to protect children from sexual exploitation.

An episode of “going missing” can be seen as a signal of underlying issues, just as much as it can be the start of a period of marginalisation and exclusion, which can have a tremendous impact on an LGBTIQ+ child or young person throughout their lifetime. However, there is a dearth of research in Europe on the relationship between being LGBTIQ+ and “going missing”.  

With this in mind, in April 2024, Missing Children Europe (MCE) in collaboration with IGLYO — The International LGBTQI Youth & Student Organisation,  and the University of Portsmouth has launched LGBTIQ+ Missing Children — a 2-year project that will study the views and lived experiences of LGBTIQ+ young people (between 18 and 24 years old) who went “missing” as children (before they turned 18 years old). The aim is to better inform training and awareness raising, and to promote equality and non-discrimination for LGBTIQ+ children who are at risk of being in such situations.  

The innovation of the project lies in kick-starting the development of LGBTIQ+-friendly child protection systems, with a focus on ensuring that missing LGBTIQ+ children are better recorded and supported, ultimately reducing the number of LGBTIQ+ children going missing. This project essentially aims to mainstream different sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and sex characteristics across society. 

For more info, please visit our website: https://missingchildreneurope.eu/lgbtq-missing/

Data provided by Lost in Europe show that at least 18,292 refugee children disappeared from asylum seekers' centers in Europe between 2018-2020 and more are expected to go missing. One of the main reasons is that they lack access to trustworthy information, which forces them to rely on unverified information and on those who profit from their vulnerability. Once missing, and outside the protection system, children face situations of sexual/labour exploitation, trafficking and are exposed to serious risks to their mental and physical health.

Many young people on the move have access to a smartphone to navigate towards safety and speak with family back home. Therefore, Missing Children Europe developed the Miniila app, a tool to close the information gap and provide support that helps children stay safe.

Unlike other apps for migrants and refugees, Miniila is specifically tailored to the needs of unaccompanied minors and young adults (up to 24 years) with a focus on facilitating access to understandable information about dedicated services such as shelter, food, health, legal support, guardianship and leisure activities in the area they are in and in their own language. Currently, Miniila is available in ten European countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, France Germany, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) and in ten languages (English, French, Arabic, Farsi, Tigrinya, Pashto, Urdu, Ukrainian, Russian, and Bengali). 

The app is available on Google Play and Apple Store.

For more information, please visit the website: www.miniila.com