According to Missing Children Europe , in 2019 the Unique Number for Missing Children in Europe (11.60.00) replied to 55,284 contacts with 7,582 cases, of which 55% of the new cases concerned refugees and 23% minors removed from parents. According to ICMEC, the phenomenon has alarming proportions: in the United Kingdom there are about 80 thousand cases of disappearance, in Russia over 45,000, in India 111,569, in the United States over 421,394. Telefono Azzurro has over the years established partnerships and alliances with the most important international networks engaged in the disappearance of minors, including Missing Children Europe and International Center for Missing & Exploited Children (Icmmec).
On the occasion of the International Children 's Day Missing on Monday 25 May , Telefono Azzurro offers a moment of reflection in live streaming on ANSA and Avvenire, attended by the Prefect Silvana Riccio - Extraordinary Commissioner of the Government for missing persons, Prefect Michele Di Bari - Head of the Department for Civil Liberties and Immigration of the Ministry of the Interior, Hon. Caterina Chinnici - MEP and Co-President of the Intergroup of the European Parliament for the Rights of the Child, Monsignor Sànchez Sorondo - Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences Social, Maud de Boer Buquicchio -President of Missing Children Europe, Maria Francesca Pricoco - President of the Juvenile Court of Catania and AIMMF President, Marina Contino - First Director of the Central Anti-crime Service of the State Police, Maria Josè Falcicchia - International Cooperation Service of the Police of State, Federica S ciarelli - RAI journalist and presenter of Who Saw It.
In 2019, 8,331 reports of the disappearance of minors in Italy, including 5,376 foreigners and 2,955 Italians. A dramatic phenomenon, also found by Telefono Azzurro which, during the past year, has seen a doubling of the number of cases handled compared to 2018. In 2019, 2,676 unaccompanied foreign minors arrived in Italy and who leave the reception centers without leaving track.
Telefono Azzurro has been on the front line for over ten years to support the reporting and finding system of missing children with the European Single Number 11.60.00 managed in Italy by Telefono Azzurro on behalf of the Ministry of the Interior, active 24 hours a day. Number 11.60.00 recorded an increase in cases compared to 2018 in 2019, the age group most at risk is those between 11 and 18 years, while, from 2009 to 2019, the reports concerned male adolescents to a greater extent 15 and 18 years old.
"Children and adolescents who disappear are found in many cases in a territory other than that in which they have disappeared - says Professor Ernesto Caffo , President of Telefono Azzurro -. They are often victims of trafficking or exploitation and therefore solid international cooperation is needed , which fosters collaboration, including on the aspect of preventing disappearance, between the institutions and the world of non-profit ".