10,000 child refugees missing, Europol says

The European Union police agency says authorities dealing with Europe’s migrant crisis have lost track of about 10,000 unaccompanied children over the last 18 months amid fears that organised crime gangs are beginning to exploit the vulnerable youngsters.

Europol chief of staff Brian Donald said that the figure “would be a conservative estimate across all the countries that are dealing with this migrant crisis.

“It’s not unreasonable to say that we’re looking at 10,000-plus children,” Donald said, adding that 5,000 had disappeared in Italy alone.

“Not all of them will be criminally exploited; some might have been passed on to family members.

"We just don’t know where they are, what they’re doing or whom they are with.”

The revelation that so many youngsters are unaccounted for is the latest worrying development in the migrant crisis and underscores the risks faced by people fleeing conflict, poverty and persecution in the Middle East, Africa and Asia once they have reached the apparent safety of Europe.

Over one million migrants and refugees, many fleeing the Syria conflict, crossed into Europe last year.

More than 10,000 refugee children are missing in Europe https://t.co/CiR2uCSGkt pic.twitter.com/kriWgHEtFv

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) February 1, 2016

“Whether they are registered or not, we’re talking about 270,000 children,” Donald said.

“Not all of those are unaccompanied, but we also have evidence that a large proportion might be,” he said, adding that the 10,000 is likely to be a conservative estimate.

Meanwhile, Syrian rebels fought back against an offensive by government forces near a supply route into the city of Aleppo and said there had been no letup in Russian air strikes, despite a promise of goodwill moves by Damascus to spur peace talks.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura was due late last night to meet Syrian opposition groups in Geneva, hoping to launch indirect peace talks after five years of war that has killed 250,000 people.

A meeting with the government delegation was postponed because de Mistura had first to meet the opposition.

De Mistura pressed on with peace efforts as the death toll from an Islamic State suicide attack near Damascus climbed to more than 70 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The attack targeted a government-held neighbourhood that is home to Syria’s holiest Shi’ite shrine.