A group of reporters has come up with frightening figures: at least 51,439 unaccompanied minor refugees have disappeared without a trace from reception centers in Europe over the past three years.
According to the ‘Lost in Europe’ network, 50 children or young people disappear every day. Italy is therefore in first place, followed by Austria. In response to a request from the APA, the Ministry of the Interior in Vienna said the story about “disappearing without a trace” into possible criminal structures was “untenable” from the perspective of police experts.
Ministry: Most missing people return
In Austria, from 2021 to 2023, approximately 19,000 asylum seekers were counted who claimed when submitting their application that they were single, minors and had avoided the asylum procedure in Austria, the majority of them Afghans. However, most would reappear after consultations with other EU countries under the Dublin Agreement.
The Federal Criminal Police’s special investigators are not aware of a single case of human trafficking involving an unaccompanied minor in Austria in the past twenty years. In Italy, the situation is likely to be different: “Foreign minors who disappear are often victims of the criminal underworld or of exploiters,” Carla Garlatti, head of the Italian child protection organization ‘Guarantee of Childhood’, told Italian news agency ANSA. . “In a center for underage girls, we were told that one or two young girls were disappearing every night and that there were often cars in front of the door with people offering the girls work,” Garlatti explains.
In previous studies this number was much lower
Fifteen countries responded to Lost in Europe’s request for data, with Spain, Britain, France and Greece missing from the list. Lost in Europe conducted a similar study in 2021 for the years 2018 to 2020. At the time, 18,000 unaccompanied foreign minors disappeared in three years.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
