Brussels continues to urge all the EU countries to create a harmonised missing children alert system. The proposed common EU helpline 116 000, for instance, is still only operable in Greece and Hungary. Francis Jacob, the chairman of Missing Children Europe on Sunday appealed for more energetic effort from decision-makers: “My final message is that in a Europe without borders, a Europe with great use of the Internet, the availabilty of fast and easy travel, the problems of missing children, of sexually exploited children, increasingly require a European approach. We need action not words!” International Missing Children’s Day also aimed to send a message of hope and solidarity to parents who do not know what has become of their children. The NGO federation Missing Children Europe said there were more than 3,500 child disappearances in Belgium alone in 2006, and France recorded 45,000 cases.

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