Missing person
A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, or death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons.
The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
Reasons for disappearance may include:[1][2][3] A common misconception is that a person must be absent for at least 24 hours before being legally classed as missing, but this is rarely the case.
Some missing person cases are given wide media coverage, with the searchers turning to the public for assistance.
The persons' photographs may be displayed on bulletin boards, milk cartons, postcards, websites and social media to publicize their description.
Their articles were found to be shorter and less detailed—with an average word count for white women of 713 compared to 518 for Aboriginal women—and less likely to be front-page news.
[10] Some of the most widely covered missing person cases have been kidnappings of children by strangers; however these instances are rare.
However, only 115 were the result of "stereotypical" kidnaps (by someone unknown or of slight acquaintance to the child, taking them a long distance with intent to murder or to hold them permanently or for ransom).
[13][12] The Wall Street Journal reported in 2012 that: "It is estimated that some 8 million children go missing around the world each year.
"[14][15][16] The BBC News reported that of the children who go missing worldwide, "while usually the child is found quickly the ordeal can sometimes last months, even years.
The precarious situation of these children makes them particularly vulnerable to human rights abuses, rendering their protection critical, given the high risks to which they are exposed.
Most of these children are boys aged 14 years and over, with diverse ethnic, cultural, religious and social backgrounds mainly originating from Afghanistan, Somalia, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea and Iraq.
Among exploiters taking advantage of the children, are sometimes their own relatives who gain benefit in the form of social or family allowances.
In the report, UNICEF also warns that there is a dramatic absence of harmonized and systematic data collection, analysis and dissemination at all levels without which countries lack important evidence that informs national policies and responses.
The CRM system is expected to have a clear impact on the way hotlines are able to work together and collect data on the problem of missing children.
The British Asylum Screening Unit estimated that 60% of the unaccompanied minors accommodated in social care centres in the UK go missing and are not found again.
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement strives to clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing persons when loss of contact is due to armed conflict or other situations of violence; natural or man-made disaster; migration and in other situations of humanitarian need.
It is also supporting the families of missing persons to rebuild their social lives and find emotional well-being.
[23] The legal status of missing persons in Austria is regulated by the Declaration of Death Act (Todeserklärungsgesetz).
The file named Fichier des personnes recherchées (FPR) is a data collection of the French national police.
On May 26, 2002, a monument to missing persons was unveiled in County Kilkenny, Ireland by President Mary McAleese.
She said her organization would work with the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) to recommend a model law to the Parliament of Jamaica.
[30] The term jouhatsu refers to the people in Japan who purposely vanish from their established lives without a trace.
Most of them violently suppressed the opposition, usually with the secret kidnapping of unwanted people by unnamed members of the security forces.
According to a report by the Russian news agency TASS released in 2018, between 70,000 and 100,000 people go missing in Russia every year.
The insurance covers the costs if the situation was not caused by gross negligence, if there is a risk of death and if there is a reasonable chance of survival.
By the time the study data were collected, 99.8% of 1.3 million caretaker missing children had been returned home alive or located.
[14][15][16][17][38][36] The United States' National Crime Information Center (NCIC) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, mandated by the National Child Search Assistance Act, maintains its own "Missing Person File" to which local police report people for whom they are searching.
[41] 116 000 is the European hotline for missing children active in all 27 countries of the EU as well as Albania, Serbia, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
