Unaccompanied children: Over 30,000 went missing between 2014 and 2017

Missing Children Europe’s new secretary general has called on EU member states to develop a sustainable, long-term solution to protect children who arrive at European borders, ahead of a conference in Malta tackling children lost in migration. Aagje Ieven said inefficient cooperation between countries and the shortcomings of national asylum and child protection systems led children to mistrust the current systems and seek out dangerous solutions to reunite with their families and to have access to a better quality of life, or simply stay safe. Ms Ieven is urging European leaders to address the lack of solidarity within Europe and to introduce a relocation mechanism following disembarkation. Together with high-level European, UN and African representatives, Ms Ieven will be in Malta this week for the third ‘Lost in Migration Conference: Global Strategies and Political Commitments’, being held at the University of Malta Valletta Campus between tomorrow and Friday. Organised by the President’s Foundation for the Well-being of Society and Missing Children Europe, the conference is geared to look beyond Europe towards the full migratory journey of the child. “As a society, it seems...