According to UN figures, more than six million refugees have left Ukraine for the European Union since the beginning of the war, most of them women and children. In a situation where European authorities are unable to trace the path of every refugee, the risks of people disappearing without a trace increase. A particularly vulnerable category is minors traveling unaccompanied by adults. DW spoke with Louise Bono, Senior Political and Legal Director at Missing Children Europe, about this issue, as well as the forced removal of Ukrainian children to Russia.

DW: Has Missing Children Europe been asked to help find missing Ukrainian children in the EU?

Louise Bono: Missing Children Europe has been looking for children regardless of their nationality or country of origin for over twenty years. When we come across cases of children from Ukraine, we assume. But from February 24th, we started to cooperate much more closely with a member of our Ukrainian federation – the public organization “Magnolia”.

If we talk about the statistics of such cases conducted by Missing Children Europe, that is, about the cases of disappearance of Ukrainian children after crossing the EU border from 24th February to 6th July, then there were 20 of them, and they were worried a total of 23 children. More than half of the cases concerned the removal of a child by one of the parents, who, taking advantage of the situation caused by the war, took the child to another country without the consent of the other. In addition, Missing Children Europe has been actively involved in investigating cases involving two children who left for the EU and lost contact with their parents, and three minors who left Ukraine without parental consent. These children were found in Romania, Portugal, Germany, France and Poland.

– Can we say that the war in Ukraine, in particular, the large flow of Ukrainian refugees to the EU, increases the risk of missing children?

– As I just said, 20 of these cases were recorded during the five months of the war. If we compare this number with the statistics of Ukrainian children who disappeared after crossing the border into the EU in 2020, we will see that there were 2 of that year, in my opinion, this is evidence that there is a significant increase in the number of such cases. . But the truth is that we don’t know the exact number of missing children en route to the EU.

– That sounds quite sinister. Why is that?

– The fact is that cases of disappearance of a child must be reported to the police in order to initiate an investigation. This must be done by someone who knows the child has disappeared. And that may not happen, for example, when minors themselves go to the EU. It is very good that the EU has quickly introduced the temporary protection status for refugees who enter its territory, which gives them rights in the territory of the European Union. But between the moment of crossing the EU border, for example, in Poland or Romania, and the moment of registration somewhere in Spain, there is quite a long way to go, during which anything can happen.

Unfortunately, for the time being, the European system does not let us know if all children crossing the EU border are safe. We do not know whether the child who crossed the border was registered for temporary protection. Or, in the case of unaccompanied children, whether they are registered with the national child protection system. And that’s a big white spot. We cannot protect children we cannot see. At Missing Children Europe, we can only talk about cases that come to us when family members or caregivers report the missing child to the police or call the 116,000 hotline.

– Women with children who go abroad run the risk of falling into the trap of traffickers and even being separated from their children. What should they remember?

– Often the decision to leave is made at the last minute, the person does not have enough time to plan the exit, obtain information about where to go and how to arrive safely. In these circumstances, a person is at risk of exploitation and trafficking in human beings. We encourage refugees to look out for signs of human trafficking. If someone offers you a job and the pay looks too good, it’s a sure sign that something is wrong with that offer. We also recommend not traveling alone, but in a group with people you know. To learn more about human trafficking signals, you need to go to the OSCE website.

Most people mean well – volunteers, human rights activists, members of public organizations. However, they can include someone who wants to take advantage of the situation when you are scared and alone and don’t know what to do. If you have any questions, call your local emergency services, police, trafficking hotlines or missing children. You can also call the pan-European hotline 112 or the missing children helpline 116 000. We also advise you to take not only originals but also copies of documents with you. And apply for temporary EU protection as soon as possible. Then you will immediately find yourself in a system that will protect you and your children.

– However, teenagers who decide to travel to Europe on their own seem to be at greater risk.…

– Yes, although statistics show that the number of Ukrainian children traveling to the EU unaccompanied by an adult is quite low. But despite these indicators, we must pay close attention to these children. Many teenagers in Ukraine do not feel safe because of the war and are looking for opportunities to go out without their parents’ knowledge, not choosing the safest ways to do so. They communicate in various online chats with people they don’t know. And that is a very big risk for children.

Therefore, we ask teenagers not to give information about themselves to strangers, not to share their plans with them. We advise parents to talk to their children about the war, about the desire to leave Ukraine, which is quite natural. In this way, you can prevent a child from trusting a stranger and becoming a potential victim of human traffickers.

– What mechanisms do you use to find missing children?

– Missing Children Europe’s main task is to coordinate a network of 116,000 hotlines. We do not conduct our own investigations, but maintain hotlines in cross-border cases. Normally, our Ukrainian partner “Magnolia” receives the most reports of missing children from Ukraine. Sometimes we receive them directly through our website. In this case, we send a report to “Magnolia”, which performs other actions.

Missing children should always be reported to the police. If there is reason to believe that a child from Ukraine has crossed the border, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies must issue a “yellow warning” – this is a global message about the search for a missing child or adult. Thus, Ukrainian police officers alert law enforcement agencies in other countries about this so that they can continue their investigation.

– According to Ukrainian authorities, Russian forces have forcibly deported more than 6,000 Ukrainian children to Russia since the start of the war. There is almost no information about the fate of these children. What to do in these cases?

– We at Missing Children Europe are deeply concerned about the reports of forced removal of Ukrainian children to the territory of the Russian Federation. Through our affiliated public organization Magnolia, we were involved in the investigation of a case of abduction of a Ukrainian child by the Russian military.

We are talking about 16-year-old Vlad Buryak, the son of the head of the Zaporizhzhya regional state administration, Oleg Buryak. The boy was captured at a Russian checkpoint during an evacuation in early April. The child was released after three months of captivity. “Magnolia” provided assistance to Vlad’s father during this difficult time. International pressure and media attention played an important role in the child’s release. In my opinion, it is important that the issue of exporting Ukrainian children to Russia is constantly in the public eye, so that the international community is aware of it.

We are also concerned that Russia has specifically amended its legislation to facilitate the adoption of Ukrainian children from temporarily occupied territories. Adoption should never take place during or immediately after emergencies, and children separated from their parents during a humanitarian emergency cannot be considered orphans. The only acceptable solution in these cases is family reunification if it is in the best interests of the child.