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More Than 10,000 Child Refugees Have Disappeared In Europe, Europol's Brian Donald Warns

More Than 10,000 Refugee Children Are 'Missing' In Europe
Kathryn Snowdon
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More than 10,000 child refugees have disappeared since arriving in Europe, with many likely to have fallen into the hands of traffickers, the EU's criminal intelligence agency has said.

Europol said that thousands of vulnerable young people had gone missing after registering with authorities.

It is believed that 5,000 children had disappeared in Italy, while a further 1,000 were unaccounted for in Sweden.

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More than 10,000 child refugees are believed to have gone missing since arriving in Europe

Europol's chief of staff, Brian Donald, said that there now existed a sophisticated pan-European "criminal infrastructure" that was targeting refugees.

"It’s not unreasonable to say that we’re looking at 10,000-plus children. Not all of them will be criminally exploited; some might have been passed on to family members.

"We just don’t know where they are, what they’re doing or whom they are with," he told the Observer.

The British government announced last week that it would work with the United Nations refugee agency - the UNHCR - to identify "exceptional cases" of unaccompanied children in war zones.

The move follows calls from charities led by Save the Children for Britain to admit at least 3,000 young people who have reached Europe, warning that many simply "disappear" once here and fall into the hands of people traffickers.

Europol, which has a 900-strong force of intelligence analysts and police liaison officers, believes 27% of the million arrivals in Europe last year were minors.

In October, officials in Trellebory, Sweden, said that about 1,000 refugee children who had arrived at the port town alone in the previous month had gone missing.

Donald said that Europol had received evidence that some refugee children who had arrived alone had been sexually exploited.

He said: "An entire [criminal] infrastructure has developed over the past 18 months around exploiting the migrant flow. There are prisons in Germany and Hungary where the vast majority of people arrested and placed there are in relation to criminal activity surrounding the migrant crisis."

He urged the public to remain vigilant and "alert" to the situation, saying that the children who had gone missing "would be hiding in plain sight".

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Also on the Huffington Post UK:

UK Resettlement Scheme Explained
Who Is Eligible?(01 of04)
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The UK asks the UNHCR – the UN’s refugee agency – to determine those who might be eligible for resettlement owing to a series of factors, all of which are based on need.

  • Those who cannot be supported in their region of origin
  • Women and children at risk
  • People in severe need of medical care
  • And survivors of torture and violence against others


These are determined by extensive records kept by the UNHCR using data gathered by the organisation at its refugee camps. For Syrians fleeing civil war, many of these camps are in neighbouring Jordan and Lebanon.

Home Office officials corroborate records and make a final decision as to a candidate’s eligibility.

And while the process has been criticised for being slow, the government is working with the UNHCR to improve its processes and to document potential beneficiaries more quickly. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Where Do They Go?(02 of04)
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Rather than be made to fend for themselves, those arriving under the resettlement scheme are brought into the UK’s well-oiled relocation network – run by local authorities.

Thousands have been resettled via the networks, which have operated for many years (PDF).

A dispersal scheme means that those arriving are distributed evenly across the UK. The 100 or so refugees arriving in the UK on Tuesday are to be housed across Scotland. (credit:Dan Kitwood via Getty Images)
What Do They Do?(03 of04)
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Once they’ve been welcomed and settled, Syrians are given lessons in English and other skills.

School places are secured for children, doctors and medical assessments work on any health conditions. Support is available for those left traumatised by their experiences.

Refugees are eligible for the benefits citizens are able to receive – and they are helped with their housing costs. They are also able to apply for work.

They will receive five years’ humanitarian protection (PDF) – and there is the possibility of a family reunion if it can be proved a union existed prior to a person’s entry on the scheme. (credit:Jeff J Mitchell via Getty Images)
And Who's Paying?(04 of04)
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Questions around the funding of the scheme remain. David Cameron has said it would be funded for the first 12 months by the UK government.

The government has assured local authorities that the costs of supporting those living under the scheme for its duration will be covered.

It has been reported that it will cost around £23,420 a year to house a refugee who isn’t working, and £10,720 to house those who are working.

The Home Office told HuffPost UK that the costs of supporting refugees varied case by case. It said: "The first 12months of a refugee's resettlement costs are carefully funded by central government using the Overseas Development Aid (ODA) budget.

"We are working through the LGA with the local government sector on the level of funding and the process for accessing funds for years 2-5.

"The funding package for the scheme forms part of the Comprehensive Spending Review and further information will be available shortly once when the review is concluded." (credit:Chris McGrath via Getty Images)
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