The Swiss child protection organisation, as an implementing partner of UNICEF, in the framework of its work with the Municipality of Budapest, the Methodist Social Centre and Institutions of Budapest and the Trauma Centre, examined the fate of children who become victims and the possibilities of preventing their disappearance with the help of experts at a roundtable discussion on 25 May 2023, the World Missing Children's Day.

Tünde Ménesi, a child protection expert of the foundation organizing the professional discussion, drew attention to the fact that according to a 2015-16 statistic, Hungarian children are overrepresented among the victims of child trafficking in the European Union. However, disappearance can have many different meanings and causes, including vagrancy, hiding, migration, running away, illegal removal of a child (by a parent), abduction or even abduction from the place of care due to forced prostitution or even grooming. There are 250 000 missing children in the EU every year.

Police Colonel László Oláh-Paulon, Senior Police Advisor and Head of the Crime Prevention Department of the National Police Headquarters, said that the high numbers are also due to the strict wanted system. "For example, in the case of missing children in state care, a report is made within 30 minutes of their failure to turn up at the appointed time." Police Colonel Istvánné Morauvszki, Head of the BRFK Investigation Department, Child and Youth Protection Unit, added that 30% of reported cases are found within 24 hours, 30% within a week and 35% within a month. The remaining 5% are missing after 90 days, at which point the child is officially considered missing, but in most cases missing does not mean that no one knows where the child is physically, but that they are not where they are supposed to be.

Police officers have pointed out that these children, who typically go missing from child protection services, are not well understood by society. Julianna Fedorkó of the National Child Protection Specialist Service pointed out that all phases of specialised care are problematic and that reform is long overdue. "Children who are removed from their families are first placed in foster homes, where they sometimes have to spend a lot of time, which is a problem in itself. The lack and turnover of professionals is particularly painful in an area where permanence should be critical." - added the expert.

"Children are more often running away from something (e.g, not feeling safe at home, experiencing physical, sexual or emotional abuse) than they are heading towards something (the promise of security, reassurance, acceptance, work or some other opportunity from outside, often dangerous). - Orsolya Táler, psychologist and executive director of the Blue Line Children's Crisis Foundation, stresses the same point: "Runaways and disappearances would be prevented by having a person in the child's life to whom he or she can form a lasting and healthy attachment. This is also true for children in families and children in specialised care. When the state takes a child out of care, it is often the case that the child has nothing to attach to." - added the expert.  

The aim of the professional consultation is to make the topic as widely known as possible, thus promoting the shared responsibility of the majority, adult society, the importance of which is confirmed by all participants. Participants agreed that even the smallest help, whether it is support for missing children's organisations or a sentence spoken out loud to a child in distress, letting the child know that he or she is not alone - that they can count on adults to help. 

Another good example is the case of human traffickers hunting for victims at the border, which has been widely reported in the media since the outbreak of the war - for example, it has not been reported to the police, so if anyone knows of such a case, please report the details to the relevant authorities so that we can prevent any possible damage. 

"Knowledge of children's rights would be important so that we do not look the other way, so that we do not turn our heads." - concluded the Blue Line expert, adding that "a culture should develop where people don't emphasise what is not my responsibility, but know that I have a responsibility to every child."

Since 1960, Terre des hommes (Tdh) has been providing child protection and children's rights services in 40 countries around the world. From its regional headquarters in Budapest, it develops and implements child welfare initiatives across Europe. Its activities in Hungary focus on creating a child-friendly justice system, combating the exclusion of vulnerable children and creating spaces that are both innovative and child-friendly. The organisation's Emergency Response Programme is run in partnership with UNICEF, the Municipality of Budapest, the Budapest Methodist Social Centre and its Institutions and the Trauma Centre. 

More information: 

Anna Surján, Project Assistant, Terre des hommes : anna.surjan@tdh.ch   

Viktória Nagy, Project Officer, Terre des hommes: viktoria.nagy@thd.ch

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