Event report

Every year, in the European Union alone, there are over 250,000 reports of missing minors, almost one every two minutes. Yet, even today, there are no single and shared measures for the prevention and search for missing children. Neither at European level nor, much less, at world level. Each country tries to cope with what continues to be a social scourge by adopting different directives from those used by other countries. In 2018, in 26 of the 32 European hot-lines dedicated to this purpose, reports of missing minors were "only" 91,655 for 9,115 missing children. Far fewer than those that really disappeared. Several themes were addressed during the works. Starting with the role of the institutions (Kiwanis is the coordinator of the Group 6 Missing Minors at the Council of the Extraordinary Commissioner of the Government for Missing Persons. disappearance of a minor and his / her discovery. At the same time, the initiatives that will be implemented in the near future to reduce the risk of the disappearance of minors were presented, collaborating with many of the associations present at the meeting and mediating the adoption of innovative tools and protocols like those of EENA and ESSN. Particular attention was paid to migratory phenomena and to unaccompanied foreign minors who in Italy represent the majority of missing and undiscovered minors. The project was joined by Authorities, Associations and Bodies active in the sector which provided their own important contribution in terms of know-how of the phenomenon and of the procedures for prevention and recovery. Part of the work was also dedicated to the phenomenon of international child abduction (also with testimonies).