Towards examining and addressing the danger of unaccompanied migrant minors going missing

This article critically assesses current work practices in the EU concerning missing unaccompanied migrant minors, a vulnerable group facing specific dangers due to their marginalized status and the often complex international nature of their cases. A lack of reliable data further complicates the situation. The authors introduce a new alert system developed from empirical data (26 international expert interviews), designed to improve efficiency in responding to missing children cases and communication between stakeholders. Currently in use by three organizations, this system has been utilized in over 85 real-life cases. The article concludes that the system has the potential to connect actors efficiently and prevent children from 'falling off the grid', while emphasizing the need for homogenous, non-discriminatory EU legislation protecting the rights of migrant minors and further research actively involving these minors.

Isabelle Branti, Ariadni Michalitsi-Psarrou, Barbara Klein, Minas Pertselakis, Christos Ntanos, Danai Vergeti