Missing children Europe – AMBER Advocate

The safe recovery of a 16-year-old girl missing from Greece highlights the critical role of international intelligence sharing for AMBER Alert Coordinators. The juvenile, who disappeared from Patras, was successfully located in Berlin following an intensive cross-border investigation. Success was driven by the activation of European judicial cooperation (Eurojust) and seamless coordination among the Hellenic Police, German authorities, and Europol. This case underscores that integrating digital forensic analysis—such as tracking phone pings, tracking transit surveillance and flight purchases—with international legal frameworks allows for rapid data access across borders. Maintaining high-speed, multi-agency communication ensures that even when an at-risk youth executes a planned international departure, unified regional alerts and targeted street checks can often lead to a safe, successful recovery.

The European Parliament has lauded a project that revealed a startling number of missing migrant children in Europe. The Lost in Europe project investigated the disappearance of more than 50,000 child migrants and found that, on average, nearly 47 migrant children arriving in Europe have gone missing every day since 2021. The investigation concluded that many of the missing children are victims of human trafficking; based on documentation inconsistencies, the actual number may be even higher. The findings are “just the tip of the iceberg,” said Aagje Leven, secretary general of Missing Children Europe. The three-month-long joint investigation by media outlets in seven countries received the E.U. Parliament’s 2024 Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism, named in memory of the assassinated journalist and anti-corruption activist.