During the first two months of the war in Ukraine there was a huge increase in reports of missing children, with 2,100 incidents reported due to the war compared to 182 recorded on the same line in peacetime in 2020.
The above data were recorded by the NGO Magnolia, which is the operator of the European hotline 116000 for Missing Children in Ukraine (in Greece the telephone line is managed by the Smile of the Child), and was brought to light by the European Federation of Missing Persons “Missing Children Europe” in its annual report.
Among the cases recorded there are at least 343 children missing alone and at least 15 cross-border cases of 18 children missing seeking safety in EU. It is clarified that part of these cases is simply due to a temporary loss of contact due to damage to infrastructure. 131 of the 343 missing children were found alone, but a significant number of cases remain unsolved. Despite the difficult conditions due to the war, the operators of the telephone line in Ukraine hid in the basements and used their mobile phones to continue receiving reports and searching for missing children.
According to the office of the Ukrainian ombudsman, 232 children have been killed and 427 children injured since the start of the war in Ukraine.
The network of organizations calls on EU Member States to provide support and protection to all children and families at risk of extinction due to war. It also stresses the need to support the 116000 hotline in Ukraine and neighboring countries to find all children and families still missing due to the war.
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