Hundreds of unaccompanied foreign minors go missing in Belgium at a rate of nearly fifteen per week. Nearly 800 such cases surfaced last year alone. Meanwhile across Europe, there are now tens of thousands of such cases.
Recently released figures in Belgium highlight the fact that a total of 774 unaccompanied migrant minors have disappeared in the EU member state in 2024. Less than a third of them (246) were found later.
Around 100 cases are classed as "very concerning" on account of variable factors of vulnerability such as the child's age, existing urgent medical needs, or signs suggesting potential exposure to serious danger.
According to Child Focus, an organization which tracks cases of missing children, many remaining files remain open. The charity stressed that numerous disappearances of unaccompanied migrant minors might not even be recorded.
These would largely include children who never enter Belgium's reception system and therefore cannot officially be reported missing.
The figures were obtained after a written parliamentary question had been submitted by MP Matti Vandemaele from Belgium's Green Party.
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Over 50,000 missing in Europe in three years
The number of unaccompanied minors disappearing has been on the rise across Europe for years.
According to Lost in Europe, an investigative journalism project focused on the disappearance of child migrants, 51,000 children have gone missing across the continent between 2021 and 2023.
In the previous three years, there had only been 18,000 such cases.
Of the 51,000 unaccompanied minors missing in Europe between 2021 and 2023, a total of 2,257 of those cases were recorded in Belgium, making its one of the top three countries out of thirteen that had been surveyed by Lost in Europe.
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Different reasons behind disappearances
The reasons for unaccompanied migrant children disappearing can vary greatly and do not necessarily always involve sinister motives.
According to the European Migration Network (EMN), some of these minors might be in transit to other countries, where they hope to reunite with family. Oftentimes, these children will not register with the authorities to avoid being placed under protective services or sent to live with a guardian.
Other minors may fear that their asylum application might be rejected, and therefore they could opt to go into hiding.
Some meanwhile have a limited understanding of their own situation and after being exposed to initial hurdles -- such as being placed in large and unpersonable reception centers -- they assume that they might have to face such conditions for a long time, and so they choose to run away.
There also are some cases of children, who actually arrive with their parents but lose them later on, and are therefore left to fend for themselves.
However, there also are far more worrying cases, where migrant minors can become victims of criminal networks and trafficker, who might exploit them for prostitution or use them as drug mules.
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EU resolute — but slow — to respond
The European Parliament has pledged to assess what can be done to better address the needs of migrant children and help prevent disappearances; however, not conclusive steps or binding policies have been taken so far.
Initiatives to address various dimensions of this issue have merely been highlighted in various European Parliament resolutions in 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and most recently in 2024.
Last month, Ewa Kopacz, the European Parliament's Coordinator on Children's Rights and also its Vice President, renewed the EU's commitment to fighting child disappearances, saying that "(b)ehind every story of a child running away is a serious problem that needs to be addressed."
"Europe that protects and supports children does not have to fear the future. If, as a society, we want to respond effectively to future crises -- whether economic, health, climate or political -- we must put children at the center of our actions."
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