The network of Missing Children Europe

May 22, 2009 in Missing Children Europe network

Missing Childre Europe

Missing Children Europe (MCE) is the European Federation for Missing and Sexually Exploited Children.As an umbrella organisation, it represents 28 Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) active in 19 Member States of the European Union and Switzerland. All MCE Members deal with cases of missing and/or sexually exploited children at grass-root level, and work in the field of prevention and support for victims and their families. Telefono Azzurro is a member of this Federation, and works with the network of organizations that are part of it.

Story

The formal creation of the Federation took place in 2001 in the European Parliament in the presence of its President Nicole Fontaine and European Commission Vice-President António Vitorino. These two EU institutions acknowledged from the beginning the added value of a Europe-wide network representing Non-Governmental Organisations working on a nationalor regional level to tackle child disappearance and sexual exploitation in all its forms.

Mission

The overall mission of MCE is to:

  • ensure that in every EU Member State, the basic requirements in dealing with missing and sexually exploited children are met;
  • stimulate European and transnational cooperation to cope with the growing cross-border nature of the problem;
  • extend the level of its Members’ activities to a highly standardised operational level;
  • assist its Members in dealing with national authorities to achieve speedy, efficient and accurate implementation of binding
    European legislation in relation to missing and sexually exploited children.

In order to fulfill its mission, the General Secretariat of Missing Children Europe undertakes all activities necessary to:

  • share best practices among its Members;
  • develop European tools to combat the disappearance
    and sexual exploitation of children;
  • cooperate with the Washington-based International Centre
    for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) and with any
    other relevant international organisation.

Missing Children Europe promotes full respect for, and compliance with, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and takes
Articles 6, 9 and 34 as the relevant framework for its activity.