Month: May 2024

The Missing Children of Europe

On By More to the StoryIn Global Trends, Human rights, Refugee stories, research and reports, World views

An international investigation has found that tens of thousands of unaccompanied child migrants – 47 each day on average – have vanished after arriving in Europe over the past three years. 

While doing other research, I came across three organisations who specialise in tracking lost migrant and refugee children and was appalled and taken aback by my ignorance. 

Research by the journalist collective Lost in Europe revealed that at least 51,433 unaccompanied refugee children and young people who were previously in the care of the state went missing across Europe between 2021 and 2023.

According to the data collected in the latest investigation, Italy has more registered missing unaccompanied minors than any other country that provided data, with 22,899, followed by Austria (20,077), Belgium (2,241), Germany (2,005) and Switzerland (1,226).

The actual number of missing children may be even higher as gathering complete information is difficult, with some countries in Europe not even collecting data on missing unaccompanied minors according to a statement by the Lost in Europe project.

Ylva Johansson, the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs responsible for migration, in an interview with the German news portal rbb24 – a member of the Lost in Europe network – linked the problem to Europe’s “broken migration system”.

Child protection organisations like Missing Children Europe have confirmed that unaccompanied child migrants and refugees are at higher risk of abuse and are easily influenced by traffickers.

Many who arrive in Europe have already been exploited by smugglers to pay off debts or because they hold control over their loved ones or their passports.

A 2022 study by researchers at Ghent University – The Childmove Project – found that more than 80 percent of children experience physical violence during their migration to Europe. 

We should all care about this. How can we stay silent? 

The Mustard Pot

On By More to the StoryIn book review, Telling other people's stories

I was very pleased to recently have been asked to contribute to a WA anthology of short memoirs. The first collection of its kind in Australia, Ourselves: 100 Micro Memoirs aims to invite the reader into the histories we often edit—or don’t tell—about ourselves.

Published by Night Parrot Press with funding from the WA Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries this book includes 100 micro memoirs, each 750 words or less, all from WA writers.

Author and journalist Kate Emery shone a lovely and generous spotlight on the book recently in The Sunday Times, calling the collection a ‘a high note’ for WA culture and writing, and good news worth celebrating.

My micro memoir is called ‘The Mustard Pot’ and is about a funny lop-sided mustard pot that my Mum bought me from the Provencal markets and that we used for years and years at our home in France. Here is a brief excerpt:

“One day I dropped it and it shattered into hundreds of pieces. Even though it was only a piece of pottery it brought back so many memories of my mum who passed away from cancer ten years ago. The shattered pieces seem to reflect my loss more deeply. I kept telling myself it didn’t matter, it was only an old mustard pot, just a thing that I could easily replace, but this tangible little pot was much more than that…“

To purchase the book go to Night Parrot Press, or check out your favourite independent bookshop.