International Day of Missing Children: Uncertainty, Fear and Bol – BBC News in Serbian

The small blue flourish petals, symbolically called an unforgetture, have been symbolizing missing children around the world for decades.

And Serbia is facing this problem.

Fifteen-year-old Barbara Vitez disappeared in 2016. in Senta, a girl Tijana Jurić was abducted and killed in 2014, and the case of two-year Danke Ilić for whose body is a year to be traigned – has not been solved yet.

Since they lead the European Number for Missing Children, past 13 years, from the organization Astra, the disappearance of a total of 157 children – 94 girls and 63 boys.

« Although 98 to 99 percent of cases are positively solved so that the children return or be found, it does not mean that the problem is small.

« Statistics can fool. Each case is serious and requires full attention, it is important to understand that the child returns does not diminish the trauma, or abolish the need for system support, » they explain.

• 116000 – SOS Line of Astra for missing children, available 24 hours, seven days a week and calls are free

The disappearance of the child is one of the most difficult psychological earthquakes for parents, says Vladimir Paunović from the center for missing and abused BBC children in Serbian.

« In practice, we have had a number of cases where parents after such events entered profound problems of psychological and psychiatric nature and did not recover from the pain that gave them a child loss, » he says.

In Serbia, in 2023. the « Find Me » system was started and the public information in cases of disappearance of children.

In memory of children who disappeared, including the one that were later found, every 25th. May are marked by the International Day of Missing Children.

What when does the child disappear?

The phone rings, the photo is searched, data is taken, the police immediately goes in search, all « available resources » are engaged.

This looks the beginning of the search for the missing child in Serbia.

« Police call the publication and begins to search immediately after the missing child’s report, » says Lawyer Tamara Radojcic for the BBC in Serbian.

24 hours were waiting for 24 hours, but the law on the police changed in 2015., after the death of Tijana Juric, she added.

The altered member is symbolically named « Tijan’s law »,

Depending on the circumstances, the police runs Different mechanisms.

« In the case of a minors, the Center for Social Work is obliged to determine whether it is associated with the possible existence of domestic violence, » says Vladimir Paunović from the Center for Missing and Abused BBC children in Serbian.

Kidnapping children or departure from home for sexual abuse are treated differently.

These cases are « especially sensitive and there is no legal obsolescence of the subject, what changes are procedures after a certain period of the child’s disappearance », adds a lawyer.

According to the official data of the MIA of Serbia, the total number The publication of the search for minors in 2024. was 1,775, and in the year before 1,525.

However, this does not mean that so many children have disappeared, because the disappearance of the same child is published several times.

Although it happens that the child of the younger age was only strayed or the teenager became angry with his family or peers and voluntarily, the disappearance of the child should not be declared voluntary, Paunović believed.

« It always looks at the background of the disappearance, because they are just children who disappear the most common ages of 13-18 years.

« Children of victims of family or peer violence are at a great risk of becoming victims of exploitation and trafficking, » he says.

If the child is suspected that the victim of trafficking in human beings, the MUP departments for sexual and blood delinquels are also included.

What are the most common reasons for the disappearance of children?

Departure from home and from social protection institutions and foster families.

Mostly due to « violence, disagreements with parents or fosterants, » says Paunovic.

It used to be the cause and « Internet violence, and a number of children become victims of internet predators, which is a high risk for further exposure to child sexual violence. »

Classical criminal abductions are extremely rare, although professionals in Serbia have had them in practice so far.

« It worries that a number of children disappear, without their disappearance to be reported anywhere.

« In these cases, disappearances are associated with the trafficked in people in which the participants are parents and relatives of children, » he explains.

What can parents do?

The International Day of Missing Children was launched in 1983. Ronald Regan, the then American president, after the disappearance of six-year-old Boy Itan Paca.

The Pac disappeared in 1979. On the way to the school in New York and that case had shaken America.

« Unfortunately, about the disappearance of children, as a fact that can happen at any time of children, parents know very little about what they need to do, » says Vladimir Paunovic from the center for missing children.

The organization of Astra on the site offers a number of recommendations what to learn children to protect them:

• to know the name and last name and address of housing
• not to open the door of the apartment when it is only at home, nor to communicate it over the phone
• to whom it can be addressed for help – teachers, teachers, police officers
• The Council of parents is never leaving a small child unattended or only in the car;
• It is good for parents to be informed about whom the child hangs out, especially if it is a period of adolescence and pay attention to changes in behavior

They offer and Useful tips Where and how to look for a child, if the disappearance is noticed – in the mall immediately turn to manager or employees, call relatives, friends, check site near the house and school, depending on the place of disappearance.

To apply for the police, it is important to have a ready image that is not older than six months.

How does it work ‘Find me’?

When two-year Danka Ilić disappeared 26. Marta 2024. In front of the house in Banjsko Polje near Bor, the system was activated for the first time Find meor Amber Alert in Serbia, which is urgently informed the public about the disappearance of the child.

Soon as the disappearance was reported to the police, the text message, and the disappearance, and the disappearance messages were displayed on the screens on car roads, airports, rail and bus stations to be a child as soon as possible.

Although they were looking for a girl’s body for weeks, it was not found until today.

System Find me is activated when:

• Disappears a child under seven years, the system automatically starts withoutstand the circumstances of disappearance
• Disappearing a minor with disabilities or disabilities
• There is a suspicion of life dangerous, regardless of age
• There is a suspicion of a criminal offense, like a kidnapping

Source: organization Astra

The system is not activated when the child escaped from the house unless it is a child under 13 years of age or if there are additional circumstances that indicate the danger of child’s life.

‘Small data number’ at the world level

The situation makes it difficult and that there is no international agreement on how to define the « missing child » or how to explore these cases.

This lack of common definition leads to a « small number of data on this problem worldwide », writes on the site International center for missing and exploited children (ICMEC).

This prevents the police and responsible for responding faster and provide appropriate support, added.

For ICMEC, the missing child is: « Anyone under the age of 18 whose residence is unknown ».

They include:

• a child who is absent from home without a parent or legal guardian permission
• kidnap – forcibly and unauthorized detachment of the child
• the abduction in which family is included
• lost, injured or otherwise missing a child
• abandoned or minor without escorting parent or guardian

Source: International Center for Missing and Exploited Children

Long-term pain, without network support

In Serbia, it is a little working on the system prevention of such cases.

« In schools, there are rarely talks about children’s safety themes or how to recognize the risky situations and who to turn.

« Misses prevention programs that would include work with families, especially in situations where a child repeatedly returns to the same violent or neglect environment, » said from Astra.

Unlike the child’s death, the disappearance represents a trauma that has higher potential to be unresolved, explains the psychologist Branimir Vukcevic for the BBC in Serbian.

« Parents hope to find a child, while having a strong pain experience, which is related to the feeling of great uncertainty, » he adds.

The process of overcoming traumatic experience is more complex.

Concentration to the problem of the missing child can be so much to « disturb partnerships, as well as the quality of parents’ relationship to other children in the family. »

In such cases, professional assistance is recommended, concludes.

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