AMBER Alert International – Issue 3 2020

Short News Clips on AMBER Alert & Child Protection Issues from Around the World

AMBER Alert Europe issues its annual report for 2019

AMBER Alert Europe marked a number of important milestones for its goal of #ZeroMissingKids in its annual report for 2019. The highlights include:

  • The organization’s Police Expert Network on Missing Persons (PEN-MP) was officially recognized by all member states of the European Union.
  • PEN-MP appointed Damjan Miklič with the Slovenian Police Directorate as the new president representing the 60 police experts from 16 countries.
  • The ‘Stay Safe With Simon’ campaign was launched to teach children how to protect themselves from being abducted.

AMBER Alert Europe also started partnerships with national police forces of Sweden, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Lithuania, as well as with missing persons organizations in the UK and Spain. The full report can be found here.

European police launch campaign to protect children from online grooming

The Police Expert Network on Missing Persons (PEN-MP) recognized International Missing Children’s Day by kicking off the #DontBeAnEasyCatch campaign that warns children about online predators. The prevention campaign features an animated video with prevention tips which has been translated into 10 languages and distributed in 23 countries—including the U.S. and Taiwan. Read more about the campaign here.

Four children’s rights organizations join AMBER Alert Europe

AMBER Alert Europe now has 38 official organizations representing 23 countries after welcoming four new organizations into the fold during the summer of 2020. The following are the newest members:

  • Fundación ANAR is a non-profit that promotes children’s rights in Spain and Latin America. The organization has been managing the European hotline number for missing children in Spain since 2010. https://www.amberalert.eu/fundacion-anar/
  • NGO Instituto de Apoio à Criança has been defending children’s rights since 1983. The non-profit has been operating the missing children hotline for Portugal since 2004. https://www.amberalert.eu/iac/
  • Child Rights Centre Albania is a non-governmental organization that was established in 1997 to improve children’s rights in Albania. https://www.amberalert.eu/crca/
  • The Greek Safer Internet Center was launched in 2016 to promote internet safety for children. The organization teamed up with AMBER Alert Europe on the #DontBeAnEasyCatch prevention campaign. https://www.amberalert.eu/greek_safer_internet_center/