Over 3,200 Romanian Children Went Missing In The Past Year

According to data offered by the police, between April 2009 and April 2010 about 3,259 children disappeared and over 90% of them ran from home or care centers.

Dumitrescu said Tuesday, on International Missing Children’s Day, that 140 of the missing children were aged under ten, adding 324 other children were reported missing by April 21, 2010 and about 3,286 missing children were found by the police over the past year.

Dumitrescu pointed out that about 3% of the total number of missing cases were accidental and 1% of the missing children were victims of kidnapping or human trafficking for sexual abuse.

Save the Children Romania executive manager Gabriela Alexandrescu said the institution will organize, in partnership with the police inspectorate, a campaign meant to educate parents to prevent voluntary disappearance cases.

According to a research released last year by the police inspectorate, 3,409 children were reported missing in 2008. About 3,365 children (98.7%) were found and 31.7% of them refused to come back home.