Children seeking asylum who vanished from UK Home Office hotels remain missing, with many likely to have been trafficked, according to new research, reported by The Guardian on Wednesday, July 17.

The new report published on July 17 by the University College London (UCL) and the humanitarian agency Every Child Protected Against Trafficking (ECPAT) found that 440 children went missing from Home Office-run hotels that were in operation between 2021 and 2024.

As of March, 118 unaccompanied children -- some as young as 12 -- remained unaccounted for. 

"The State has lost 118 children," Vernon Rodney Coaker, former Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration said during a session in the House of Lords in March.

In the UK, those found to be unaccompanied minors arriving in the UK as a migrant fall under the mandate of the Home Office which is responsible for offering suitable accommodation for children.

Between 2021 and January 2024, when a high court ruling declared them unlawful, the Home Office operated seven hotels to accommodate unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors who arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel in small boats.

Many of the minors were reportedly from African countries like Eritrea and Sudan.

'Safety' protocols 

Previously, ECPAT had released data which showed that from June 2021 to March 2022, at least 45 unaccompanied children arriving in the UK had gone missing, "after they were unlawfully placed outside the child protection system in hotel accommodation by the Home Office." 

The new UCL - ECPAT report included interviews with professionals involved in the care of the asylum-seeking children. A former Home Office hotel worker alleged that traffickers contacted the children through fake social media accounts or Facebook, exploiting their vulnerable situation. 

Additionally, the report alleged that safety protocols in place such as periodic checks on the children did little to protect them.

"The checks involved waking up children every hour to check they were still in their room. Some children described this as torture and a support worker working within the hotels stated this protocol was the likely reason some went missing," Laura Durán, head of Policy, Advocacy and Research (ECPAT) told InfoMigrants. 

"Relational approaches, which emphasize building relationships, were significantly lacking in these hotels. Most children felt punished and did not understand why they weren't allowed to sleep peacefully, leading them to distrust staff and be more likely to go missing," Duran explained. 

Duran stressed that any safety protocol should have taken a rights-based approach and ensured that the child's right to protection from harm is balanced with their other rights.  

"A better protection strategy would have been to avoid placing unaccompanied children in hotels unlawfully in the first place," said Duran.  

Albanian children missing 

Of the 118 unaccompanied minors who remained missing as of March, 104 were Albanian males. Most were between the ages of 16 and 17 when they vanished, according to data that was presented during the session at the House of Lords in March.

Government data indicated that in the year ending June 2023, almost half of small boat arrivals in the UK were from two nationalities: Albanians (26 percent) and Afghans (21 percent).

Before the summer of 2022, Albanians were rarely detected on small boats, making up just 3 percent of all arrivals from 2018 to the end of March 2022.

However, between July and September 2022, their numbers increased dramatically, with 11,238 Albanians detected arriving in just these three months. 

"It is suspected the reason most of the children who went missing from the hotels were Albanian is because many had been recruited into exploitation before arriving into the UK," said Duran who further added that it was these children who were the most subjected to 'safety protocols' that led them to distrusting the staff. 

Albanian children have also been disproportionately represented in the past five years as potential child victims of trafficking in the national statistics, she added. 

Also read: Almost 40 Albanian child migrants missing from UK care 

Home Office: 'Will consider findings carefully'

 Experts and child rights organizations have called the findings of the report a 'national scandal'.

"The allegations in this report are very serious. Unaccompanied children in the asylum system can be extremely vulnerable and their welfare and safety should be a central concern. We will consider these findings carefully," a Home Office spokesperson told InfoMigrants in an email. 

"A new government is determined to restore order to the asylum system so that it operates swiftly, firmly, and fairly; and ensures the rules are properly enforced," the spokesperson added, referring to the UK parliamentary elections this month where the social-democratic Labour Party won by a landslide.

The spokesperson further stressed that as of January 31, 2024, the Home Office exited all hotels used for housing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.  

"Any child going missing is extremely serious, and the Home Office continues working with the police and local agencies to seek to locate missing children. The safety and welfare of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children is our utmost priority and providing care placements for them is a national issue that requires participation from local authorities across the UK," the spokesperson said. 

Missing children 

An international investigation by the journalist collective 'Lost in Europe' found that on average, nearly 47 unaccompanied child migrants each day had vanished after arriving in Europe over the past three years. 

The report revealed that between 2021 and 2023, at least 51,433 unaccompanied refugee children and young people who were previously in the care of the state went missing across Europe.

In response to the findings, child protection organizations stated that the report confirms the precarious situation of unaccompanied child migrants and refugees, highlighting their higher risk of abuse and susceptibility to traffickers.

In the UK, child protection organizations again called for an official inquiry to investigate protection gaps and locate the missing children.

Experts said the findings reinforced demands for an official inquiry into the "national scandal".

“We are aware of the significant amount of work being done by some local police forces to locate these children. Yet challenges still remain and we continue to call for a public inquiry from the new government to ensure lessons are learned and the public can understand all the efforts made and where agencies failed in protecting these children,” said Duran, ECPAT policy advisor.

Also read: More than 50,000 unaccompanied child migrants missing in Europe