An estimated one million children go missing every year in the European Union. These include runaways, criminal abductions, those abducted by a parent, the lost or injured, as well as missing unaccompanied migrant children.
It is a drama that families hope they will never have to face: the disappearance of a child. Amid the panic and the stress it is crucial that a support system is quickly made available, on top of whatever action the police may take. And for help organisations on the ground, it is a key part of children’s rights.
Some cases receive a lot of media attention; others become a lonely struggle for families desperate for help.
An estimated one million children go missing every year in the European Union. These include runaways, criminal abductions, those abducted by a parent, the lost or injured, as well as missing unaccompanied migrant children.
Poland is one of the countries attempting to do something about it. Every few days at least three children under the age of 13 disappear there, and every day 10 teenagers are reported missing.
In Warsaw, Right On met a woman who has been searching for her niece for the past decade.
Seven-year-old Karina Surmacz was nowhere to be seen after her mother was found shot dead at home in 2002, along with her partner. It is possible the killings are linked to organised crime, but there has been no progress on solving the murders – or Karina’s disappearance.
[…]
