Europe – AMBER Advocate

Ireland’s Central Authority—which works with the country’s Department of Justice to handle international parental child abduction (IPCA) cases—is attempting to resolve 52 cases involving missing children, reports The Irish Times. As of August 7, 2025, the organization was working on 39 cases in which a parent is in Ireland, but their child or children have been taken to another country, and 13 “incoming” cases where a parent who lives abroad is seeking the return of their child from Ireland. In most cases of missing children (30 out of 39 cases) these children are thought to be elsewhere in Europe, with nine cases involving kids suspected of being much farther afield. Eight of the 13 incoming cases relate to children who were previously located elsewhere in Europe, with five cases involving kids who were previously outside Europe.

European cocaine gangs are torturing and raping unaccompanied African child migrants to control and force them into the country’s expanding cocaine trade, according to an investigation by the British newspaper The Guardian. Some of the most dangerous criminal networks recruit vulnerable children to exploit for trafficking—a tactic that helps the networks evade prosecution and protect their core members. The newspaper’s investigation reported that thousands of migrant children could be involved. An investigation by the journalist collective Lost in Europe found that nearly 47 unaccompanied child migrants vanish each day after arriving in Europe, totaling tens of thousands in the past three years.

The Police Expert Network on Missing Persons (PEN-MP) in Europe has grown to include more than 80 members in 30 countries. The network is part of AMBER Alert Europe and recently added eight new law enforcement members from Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, North-Macedonia, and Serbia. The PEN-MP is the official European missing persons police network, consisting of police experts in the field of missing persons.

The PEN-MP is also connecting organizations in different countries on a project to analyze cold- and long-term missing persons cases. The network will work with different police academies and universities all over the world. Four disciplinary teams are now analyzing an attempted child homicide and long-term missing person’s case in Germany. More cases are expected to be analyzed in 2021.

The AMBER Alert Europe Police Network now has more than 50 law enforcement experts from 17 countries to help find missing and abducted children. The network was established in 2014 to assist law enforcement officers in quickly contacting and consulting with each other on missing child cases. These contacts are crucial, as 37.5% of Europeans live near bordering areas, and a missing child can easily cross to a neighboring country. Because of the network, police experts can easily find and maintain information on a single point-of-contact for missing persons in another country.

European law enforcement officials brought home 93% of the children safely after issuing AMBER Alerts in 2017. AMBER Alerts were issued 27 times for 31 children.

The success stories include the Netherlands' recovery of a 15-year-old deaf and autistic boy after an AMBER Alert was issued. Police believed he was in imminent danger due to weather conditions. More than 12 million Dutch citizens responded to the alert. A crucial tip helped reunite the boy with his family.

The Czech Republic issued an AMBER Alert for a 2-year-old girl who had been missing for two months. The girl's mother abducted the child but turned herself into police after the alert was issued. The child was found in good health.

After expanding to every state in the United States, the AMBER Alert Program is becoming a global movement as more countries adopt the child abduction alert plan. The 2009 National AMBER Alert Symposium included international partners from Canada, Mexico, and the European Union.

Caroline Humer, the Senior Program Manager for the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children, provided a dateline of countries that have initiated AMBER Alert programs: Canada and the United Kingdom in 2003, Queensland, Australia, in 2005, France in 2006, Greece in 2007, the Netherlands in 2008, and Portugal and Baja California, Mexico, in 2009.

Humer said the Czech Republic, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Poland and Switzerland are now developing AMBER Alert plans. Some countries have made changes to the U.S. program including allowing non-government agencies to issue alerts, using different criteria and alerting methods and limiting the amount of information given to the public about the suspect.

Ontario, Canada modified the AMBER Alert criteria to clarify what information is needed before issuing an alert. Ontario law enforcement officers now must “believe” an abduction has taken place rather than being “certain.” The criteria were also relaxed on how much information was needed about the victim, suspect and vehicle.

A representative from INTERPOL suggested creating a “Train the Trainer” program so that they can take the training back to their countries and make their own needed adaptations.

The Southern Border Initiative is still moving forward to expand the AMBER Alert program in Mexico. Cecilia Duquela-Fuentes, Program Manager for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, noted that 381 U.S. children have been recovered in Mexico. “The goal is not to just recover U.S. children,” said Duquela-Fuentes. “The AMBER Alert program can help Mexican officials recover their children as well.”

Law enforcement officials in California and Baja California are now meeting monthly so they can collaborate on child abduction and other cases.