116 000

Calls are answered locally by staff from organisations specialising in dealing with cases of missing children by providing free emotional, psychological, social, administrative and legal advice, as required.

[1] It is active in all 27 member states of the European Union as well as in Albania, Serbia, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

First the phenomenon of missing children is becoming increasingly a cross-border problem as the Schengen area is expanding.

Secondly swift action in cases of disappearance is of vital importance, as a report from the United States' Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention suggests that 76.2% of children who are murdered after having been abducted are dead within the first three hours of disappearance.

On 15 February 2007, the European Commission recognised the need for such a Europe-wide effort and published a document requesting the member states to reserve 116 000 as the number for missing children.