Today you can find the help for any missing child thanks to a number: 116000

Everyday hundreds of children disappear in Europe and in the entire world. Although most of children is found within the first 24 hours, many children can come back home and start their life again after a long time far away, on the contrary other children will never be found any more.

From the 25th May 2009 in 10 UE Member States it will be easier to signal the disappearance of a child for the parents and it will be safer for a missing child to find the way towards home; In addition people in general will be able to provide helpful information for the search of missing child too.

The aid comes from a phone number: 116000, the line for missing children

In Italy the 116000, assigned by the Authority for the Guarantees in Communications at the Ministry of the Interior, will be managed by Telefono Azzurro, through a Memorandum of Understanding signed today. Telefono Azzurro has committed to put in his own resources to manage the project.

The 25th of May – the international day for missing children – is the anniversary of the 25th May 1979 the day during which Etan Patz a six year old child disappeared from an intersection in New York while he was going at school. The operations of search for this child have been continued for thirty years but unfortunately Etan has never been found. The international day of the missing children respects this engagement and intends to remind to the parents and the grown-ups that the children safety is a solemn priority.

As a result of this, the 25th of May has been chosen as a day – from ten EU member States – for the launch of the service number 116000 – direct line for missing children.

Thanks to the action of awareness raised by the Missing Children Europe (the European Federation for Missing and Exploited Children Sexually, representing 23 non-governmental organizations active in 16 European Union countries), the European Commission has introduced a number for missing children in February 2007 and has determined, through a decision of the CE, that the member states should reserve the number 116000 for emergency services meant to children beginning from the 31st August 2007. This kind of service is really important in Europe where the there are no borders. Today eventually this number will be operative in ten Member States ( Belgium, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia) and it will be launched simultaneously a communication campaign to inform parents and children on the efficiency of the service.

The concept of missing includes all those situations where are lost tracks of a child or a teenager and it is unknown the exact location where a child could be or the circumstances in which this disappearance is happened. The missing children are those children who get lost, who are kidnapped or who are subtracted from one of the two parents; and even all those Italian and foreign children who depart voluntarily from home or any institution.

In Italy, data on missing children are provided by the Ministry of Interior. In 2008 – according to data updated on the 5th January 2009 – the italian and foreign children -for which searching operations on the national territory have been activated and are in progress in order to find them – were more than 1330, with a strong increase if compared to 2007 during which the number was 510. Another important source is the second six-monthly report for the year 2008 by the high commissioner of the Government for missing people of the Ministry of Interior. From the data provided from the Center Operation Service of the Public Safety it has come out that the number of missing children, from the 1st of January 1974 up to the 30th September, was 9.802 whose 1.722 were Italian children and 8080 were foreigner children. This analysis has put in evidence a steady increase since the 90’s, which is due to socio-economic changes of recent years, especially the particular event of the migration process.

During the year 2008 the Telefono Azzurro Onlus has managed 106 missing children cases altogether: 67 escapes from home or from any institute, 22 national and international subtraction, 8 children who got lost and 9 missings not well specified. In line with the national data of the State Police the range of age of children most involved is about between 15 and 18 years old (57,6%) who are responsible for voluntary escapes. On the contrary the subtraction cases concern the children under 10.

It is sufficient to consider some figures on the working activities of the organizations which are part of Missing Children Europe in order to prove the seriousness of the problem. Just to make a focus on the year 2007 : Child Focus (Belgium) has opened 2928 new cases; the Fondation pour l’Enfance (France) has been counting 706 cases; Focus (Romania) 354 cases (from May to December); Missing People (UK) has opened 4802 new cases. At international level, the 2007 annual report of the NCMEC – National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (USA) reports striking figures: each year in the United States there are about 800,000 missing children (about 2.000 a day), although it is important to consider that most of these children are found quickly. Then 200.000 have been subtracted by members of the family; Other 58,000 have been subtracted from people outside the family (by a predominantly sexual purpose); there have also been 6115 most serious cases according to which the child has been kidnapped by a stranger and killed or taken in hostage.

116000

The 116000 is a free number working 24h/7 in Italy and in the most Eu member states. In Italy the calls are accepted by the professional and specifically trained Telefono Azzurro staff. The 116.000 service ’s task is to respond to 24 h/7 to alerts coming from the national territory with reference to situations of missing of children and to support the investigations of the competent authorities through agreements and procedures that Telefono Azzurro has defined and agreed with the State Police. The service is provided with procedures shared with the Police and has got a database with details of the police forces territorially competent Since many cases of missing surpass the Italian border, the 116000 will put in network the signallings with other records managers in Europe in order to extend the search abroad. The simultaneous activation of the service at the European level is essential to ensure the immediate coordination of multiple countries. .