Zmijanac about the missing refugee children Al Jazeera Balkans In Europe there are 10 thousand

missing refugee children.

Europol has revealed that at least 10,000 refugee children, who were not accompanied by their
parents, disappeared after arriving in Europe.
There are fears that many of them might be victims of traffickers.
A guest of Al Jazeera was the director and founder of the First Children's Embassy in the World
"Megjashi", Macedonia, Mr. Dragi Zmijanac.
In Europe there are 10 thousand missing refugee children.
31 January 2016
Europol fears that many children without parental accompaniment fell into the hands of criminal
groups for trafficking.
At least 10,000 refugee children, who were not accompanied by their parents, went missing after
arriving in Europe, said the European police agency Europol.
There are fears that many of them fell into the hands of organized criminal groups for trafficking.
Europol chief Brian Donald for the British media said that thousands of vulnerable minor refugees
disappeared after they were registered by the state authorities.
Only in Italy 5,000 children went missing, while in Sweden 1,000 children are registered as missing,
said Donald and warned that sophisticated "criminal infrastructure" across Europe now has focused
their attention on the refugees.
In EU has entered 26,000 children unaccompanied by parents.

"It is no exaggeration to say that at this moment we are looking for more than 10,000 children. Not
all of them will be used for crime, some might have just been given to their families. But we do not
know where they are, what they do and who they are with," said the chief of Europol.
According to the estimates by the Humanitarian organization Save the Children, last year in the
European Union entered 26,000 children unaccompanied by parents.
Europol, which has more than nine hundred intelligence analysts and police officers, believe that the
minors were 27 percent of the approximate one million refugees who entered in the European
Union during 2015.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
http://balkans.aljazeera.net/video/...
-Mr. Zmijanac, how do you explain todays Europol report that on the territory of Europe went
missing almost 10,000 refugee children?
-It is not only that 10, 000 children went missing, but also important is the number of 270,000
children who entered in the EU, and that number of 10,000 children are children unaccompanied by
their parents or relatives. In the beginning of the refugee crisis on the Greek border towards
Macedonia and Serbia, the First Children Embassy in the World Megjashi requested from the
European countries to pay maximum attention on the safety of the children. It means that when
they transit them, they have to be accompanied by their parents, relatives or the state that transit
these children to indicate them a tutor who will take care of the entrusted children. Or children to
be situated in a camp until their families are not united, so this is an enormous danger for childrens
safety so that the EU and the countries in EU have to be alert very seriously because the childrens
organs traffickers, sex trafficking, childrens prostitution and pornography may take such
momentum, so the countries who allow transit of unaccompanied children would be accomplice
with this huge crisis and I would say that the children are those who have tragic situations who not
only pay with their lives traveling on the Aegean Sea, but also when they transit through the route
that I have mentioned.
- And when they enter in Europe. Why, according to you, the police of the European countries during
this refugee crisis, could not, or did not succeed to combat with the criminal structures who are
children traffickers?
- It is interesting to see this problem from the aspect that during this crisis the criminal structures
were organized to do that in a more mobile way than those who have to protect the children. There
are possibilities that they infiltrated among the safety structures and I think that the most
threatening is the fact that it is easiest to manipulate with unaccompanied children and abduct them
and I must say that it is a shame for all society and EU, together with my country, because they were
unserious in accepting these people and children who escaped by the war madness and the fear that
they had there and I think that the first and most important chain that has to be is Greece because in
Greece they have to regulate this legal basis, and when they transit through Macedonia, Serbia,
Croatia or Hungary, then I think, as I said in the beginning, if they did not unite with their nearest
relatives, they had to indicate, ex officio, a tutor who will take care of their safety until they did not
transit these children until the final destination.

- There are so many gaps in that chain. What have to be done in order these children to be found
and is it really possible these children to be found?
- It is possible, I believe that it is possible if the International Community consolidate, if the nongovernmental organizations and inter-governmental organizations cooperate among themselves. It
is certain that we have to be closer to people who we transit, to accept them and realize that they
really escaped from the war, to cooperate with the state authorities because they know if some
children have separated from the others, if some children are unaccompanied. They have to be the
main, I would say, reporters of such cases and through them the state structures, police, Interpol,
Europol could find these children and to unite them with their families and in that way their safety
can be guaranteed, as well as their proper growth and development because a phase is coming
when these children have to be incorporated in the educational system because illiteracy, poverty,
hunger and disempowerment are very close to abuse of children and their labour, so I think that the
states should mobilize themselves and have to guarantee a maximum safety of these children or to
accept them properly for a democratic country to take care of children who have escaped from war
madness or at any cause to find their parents or relatives.
-The Childrens Embassy Megjashi had earlier warned of such scenario, you always warned about the
children, who you registered that were transited unaccompanied by their parents. Why were not
your warning accepted seriously, why was nothing done?
- You said that right. Last year in June and August we not only warned the state structures, but also
we called the International Community to treat this problem very seriously, to be maximally active
for possible criminal gangs who would abduct children and abuse them because the children organs
trafficking, children sex tourism and celling children are lucrative business and I think that our nonfunctional behaviour on this matter reflexes on them. I do not believe that they succeeded to
incorporate into the safety system, but they have found some weaknesses because of the
unpreparedness of the EU to cope with this problem and they are one step forward in manipulation
and children trafficking. The countries must consolidate among themselves and with the help of
refugees that transit, are the main witnesses and can help us to unite these children with their
relatives urgently.
-Thank you very much for your time. It was Mr. Dragi Zmijanac, the director of the First Childrens
Embassy Megjashi.