Photo showing adult holding child's hand

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.

Close-up shot of two migrant children holding hands

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.