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Title: Recommendations for Public Institutions with the social competences to manage the situation of missing people in Europe Partner: SOSU
Date: July/August 20 19
Intellectual Output 05/A3
https://lost.team
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Indhold 8 Recommendations to respond to & fight the situation of missing people in Europe ...................................... 5
The challenge ...................................................................................................................................................... 6
RECOMMENDATIONS ......................................................................................................................................... 9
REGARDING CHILDREN AND YOUTH ............................................................................................................... 9
Fight bullying to reduce the number of disappearances among children and youth. ................................... 10
Profiles of children and youngsters at risk of being sent back to their family’s homeland for cultural
reeducation ................................................................................................................................................... 11
“Run away youngsters” ................................................................................................................................. 12
How to be active on social media ................................................................................................................. 13
To have at least one trusted adult in life ...................................................................................................... 14
THE CHALLENGE ................................................................................................................................................ 15
REGARDING UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN AND YOUTH............................................................................... 15
RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE BACKGROUND OF THE CONFERENCE ............................................................... 19
The disappearance of Adults............................................................................................................................. 21
Reduce the number of disappearance of people suffering from psychological challenges or mental illnesses
...................................................................................................................................................................... 22
SUPPORT the NGOs ....................................................................................................................................... 25
Appendix ........................................................................................................................................................... 27
Appendix 1: ....................................................................................................................................................... 28
Appendix 2: ....................................................................................................................................................... 30
Appendix 3: ....................................................................................................................................................... 32
Appendix 4: ....................................................................................................................................................... 33
Appendix 5: ....................................................................................................................................................... 35
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8 Recommendations to respond to & fight the situation of missing people in Europe The following reflections and recommendations are based on the discussions and feedback coming from partner organizations in their meetings and from reports about the phenomenon. It is also from raising awareness and dissemination seminars carried out in each partner country and the general results achieved during the project, LOST
(Learning Opportunities inStruments and Investigation Techniques to fight the growing phenomenon of missing people in Europe)
In this document the partnerships’ intention is to present concrete, comprehensive recommendations for direct operational initiatives, actions and recommendations for policy makers, in order to respond to the drastically increasing number of missing people and migrant children in Europe. The Recommendation document is a practical tool for Public Institutions with the social competences to manage the situation. The output will be presented at the Final Dissemination event organized in Brussels where representatives of the EU Parliament and the EC will be invited to take part and endorse the document.
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The challenge
At the official homepage of Missing Children Europe http://missingchildreneurope.eu/factsandfigures
It is stated on the frontpage that 250.000 children are reported missing every year in Europe, which is the same as 1 child being reported missing every 2 minutes
In euro weekly news
https://www.euroweeklynews.com/2019/01/22/still-
missing-two-people-a-day-go-missing-in-spain-on-
average/ it was written the 22nd of January 2019 that
on average 2 people go missing in Spain a day;
“The Association Assistance et Recherche de Personnes Disparues (ARPD), alleges that families whose adult relatives disappear often find that authorit ies offer l imited powers to deal with the often-devastating problem.
Now, the group is to present proposals to the minister for justice on January 30 next year (2018) in a bid to improve the situation for affected families.
The group has highlighted that f igures on the number of adults who go missing are approximate, as there are no recent official statistics. ”
In an EU Parliamentary Question for written answer E-005443-16 to the Commission Rule 130
the 1st of July 2016, it was written:
“According to estimates drawn up by associations active in this area, nearly 10 000 people disappear
without trace in Europe each year. This is a double blow to their families, who are forced to cope with both
the emotional impact of the disappearance and the accompanying legal and financial repercussions. Their
problems are compounded by the huge disparities in the legislation on the rights of such groups and on the
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time limits for resolving the related legal
uncertainties. A quarter of these cases have a
transnational dimension, in that the
disappearances occur in Member States in
which the persons concerned do not habitually
reside. The Commission has acknowledged
that there is no official data available which
would make it possible to assess this
dimension, which may, for example, be linked
to human trafficking. In view of the claims made
by these associations.
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-8-2016-005443_EN.html
It is a challenge to present the general ideas and methods to prevent the disappearance of people in
general and how to handle the situation of people going missing. It is a challenge as the conditions
and reasons why people disappear vary in different European countries.
Some countries haven’t got official statistics showing how many people disappear per year.
At the internet-based version of The Connexion (https://www.connexionfrance.com/French-news/Thousands-of-
French-adults-go-missing-each-year) the following was published the 22nd of December 2017
A French missing persons group is to present proposals to the government in aid of the families of the many thousands of adults who go missing every year, but who often receive limited police support.
The Association Assistance et Recherche de Personnes Disparues (ARPD), alleges that families whose adult relatives disappear often find that authorit ies offer l imited powers to deal with the often-devastating problem.
Now, the group is to present proposals to the minister for justice on January 30 next year (2018) in a bid to improve the situation for affected families.
The group has highlighted that figures on the number of adults who go missing are approximate, as there are no recent official statistics.
In the UK, 180.000 people are reported missing every year. Someone goes missing every 90
seconds, according to figures compiled by the charity Missing People.
One in 200 children will go missing, with that number standing at
one in 500 for adults
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/yw8eey/inside-britains-escalating-missing-persons-proble
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In Denmark the total number of people reported missing is approximately 2.000 people per year, of
which 1.100 – 1.200 are senior citizens suffering from dementia.
The UK have 66 million inhabitants – almost 12 times more than Denmark, but the UK have 90
times more people reported missing.
The huge difference between the UK and Denmark underlines that there are huge national
differences, when it comes to the number of disappearances.
In this document, our recommendations on how to fight the phenomenon of disappearances are
divided into 3 parts.
1) Recommendations targeting children and youth in general.
2) Recommendations regarding unaccompanied minor asylum seekers.
3) Recommendations regarding people suffering from mental diseases.
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RECOMMENDATIONS
REGARDING CHILDREN AND YOUTH
There is always a personal story or reason when a child or young person is missing.
Children and adolescents do not disappear of their own free will if they thrive and have a good
childhood and youth.
We propose that national, regional and local policies and strategies should be developed, to support
and ensure the well-being of children and young people if they do not exist already. It should be
clear from the legislation that the political levels closest to the children and youth, which typically is
the municipalities, are obligated to ensure that the necessary implementation of such national
legislations take place in the immediate environment of children and young people.
The municipalities / local authorities should be obligated to ensure;
1) That there are good, fun and exciting opportunities for children and young
people in their spare time.
2) That there is support for the parents who have difficulty caring for their children and
adolescents.
3) That the professionals who are in contact with families, children and adolescents are
sufficiently educated and educated to recognize the signals and symptoms of distress.
4) Offering parenting courses. Examples of course titles could be;
a. Becoming a parent and being a good nurturer and sparring partner for children
when they find life difficult.
b. Being a parent and sparring partner for a teenager.
5) Ensuring that all children and young people in the municipality know where to go to seek
adult support when and if they need it, and don’t believe that they can find the support
from their parents.
6) That all children are included in at least one community outside their family.
We recommend:
1. All primary and secondary schools shall have an Anti-Bullying Policy and strategy.
2. Education of teachers and relevant social staff regarding: Profiles of children and youngsters
at risk of being sent back to their family’s homeland for cultural reeducation.
3. Education of teachers and relevant social staff regarding; Profiles of “run away youngsters”.
4. Education of teachers and relevant social staff regarding; Being active on social Media.
5. Ensure that all children and youngsters have access to a trusted adult.
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Fight bullying to reduce the number of disappearances among children and
youth.
All primary and secondary schools shall have an Anti-Bullying Policy & strategy.
One reason why children and youngsters want to disappear and even commit suicide, is that they
feel excluded, misunderstood and lonely.
We recommend that it is obligatory to all primary schools, secondary schools, upper secondary and
vocational schools to have an Anti-Bullying Policy and the belonging strategies implement the
policy into the daily life at schools.
We recommend that all educational institutions educating teachers and social workers, focusing on
children and youth education and preparing the students to intervene if they experience bullying.
The reason why we believe it pays off to focus on bullying is not only to prevent the disappearance
of children and youth. It will also reduce the number of disappearances later in life. Feeling excluded
at a very young age determines our self-confidence and mindset in many ways. Going back in
people's personal history, people who have had to deal with many challenges as adults and thought
“that others are better off without me” have often been bullied.
It is possible to change this story of bullying. A review of 1998 from one of the partner countries
shows that about every third 11-year-old pupil and every fifth 15-year-old experienced bullying in
1998.
Today, it is about one out of 20 pupils who experience bullying at least a couple of times a month,
and with this statistic Denmark places itself at the top in Europe among the countries where fewest
children are bullied or participate in bullying. Denmark is surpassed by, among others, Sweden and
Iceland, where there is even less bullying.
We recommend it to be a national aim to fight bullying and with that the number of
disappearances among children, youth and adults.
For Inspiration as to how an Anti Bullying Policy could look, see appendix 1
The policymaking at different schools should be supported by easy access to educational material
and ideas on how to implement the policy in the daily school life. See appendix 2.
1st
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Profiles of children and youngsters at risk of being sent back to their family’s
homeland for cultural reeducation
It differs from country to country how big this challenge is, but in some countries, there is still a
significant number of young people who are forced to stay in their parents’ country to be “cultural
reeducated”.
We recommend developing a course on how to recognize the most obvious signs and indications
that a child is at risk of being sent back to their parents’ homeland for “cultural reeducation”.
We recommend that initiatives are taken to build up a national homepage presenting this issue to
children and youngsters and containing:
1. Educational ideas, educational material and teaching guidelines on how to educate children
about this issue in primary school and at all levels of youth education.
a. Special focus on the phenomenon of “social control”.
2. The contact info to a hotline for children and youth who feel at risk of being sent back home
for “cultural reducation”. The hotline should be open 24/7.
3. All educational institutions should have a “cultural contact person”. This contact person has
to be well educated in cultural matters.
The homepage should contain information in different language about this issue. The homepage
should present what the national laws say about this issue, including the legal status, the health
consequences of circumcision and the risk of genital mutilation.
2nd
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“Run away youngsters”
In some countries, there is still a significant number of youngsters who are reported missing,
because they leave their home. It is typically young people living in rural areas in small “boring
village” who wants to be a part of “the more exciting life in the bigger cities”.
At https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheRunaway the Runaways are defined as:
The Runaway is a child or teenager who runs away from their home and parents or guardians. They can do this for a variety of reasons, but there are five motivations commonly used in fiction:
The Circus Runaway: a child wants to run away to the circus (or some other "exotic" location)
because they feel they are not appreciated by their parents or given enough attention.
The Abused Runaway: a child or teenager who runs away from a truly abusive or unloving parent.
The Attention Seeking Runaway: Some of them want more time with their parents, who are often
rich businesspersons or sometimes politicians, and less time with their families' nanny. Sometimes, they end up kidnapped by gangsters who hold them ransom in exchange for money from their parents.
The Orphan Runaway: a child or teenager who runs away because they have no one left, nowhere to
go. Often the most tragic of runaways.
The Vagrant Runaway: a child who realizes that they need a good old-fashioned soul searching and
decides to pack their bags and see if the world is really that cold a place and hopefully open their eyes up.
Studies show that young people have very firm but flawed pictures of each other's living
conditions and daily life experiences. Especially young people living in rural areas and small
towns have a strong perception that young people living in the larger cities have a more exciting
life.
We recommend that the municipalities ensure that in the school's oldest classes have a subject
called e.g. "citizen competences" that investigates these "flawed" notions and assumptions. We
think it might be good to present and review the 5 types of runaways to older students, as a
starting point to talk about life, dreams and challenges in life as a young person.
We recommend that the municipalities ensure that all young people have an adult contact
person through their educational places, they meet with a few times a year to talk about life,
opportunities and challenges.
We recommend that the municipalities ensure that there is special focus on young people's
opportunities in their immediate area. In some municipalities, the Young Council has been
established. These Young Councils are established either through direct elections among, for
example, the 13 to 18-year old. These elections take place at municipal youth education sites.
The Young Council then organizes seminars and ensures that they are in contact with all youth
3rd
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cultures in the municipality, so that their wishes are known by the Young Council. The Young
Council has the right of consultation with the local city council.
How to be active on social media
There are people with bad intentions trying to contact children and youngsters on social media.
There is a reason why the police and NGOs ask to enter the missing person’s social media profiles
as one of the first steps in a search.
We recommend that the authorities responsible for the education ensure that the teachers are
educated and have a basic understanding of how to educate pupils and youngsters on social media.
The pupils need to learn how to be active on social media and how to to be critical of what they
read, see and are encouraged to do.
We recommend that the responsible authorities take initiative to make it a part of the daily
schoolwork to inform about and discuss social media with the parents. The parents need to respect
their children’s privacy but also stay aware of what their children experience.
Too many children and youngsters are unwilling to share their experiences on social media with
their parents.
As an inspiration, it can be mentioned that A special program to raise awareness has been launched
in Spain through sosdesaparecidos where children from ages 11 to 16 will learn about the effects of
disappearances and trafficking. These texts are also shared on both the students and teachers’
social media.
4th
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To have at least one trusted adult in life
We do not believe that we can educate the parents when it comes to their children being open-
minded and respectful. Teenagers are often left alone to deal with the challenges and problems in
their life because they don’t feel comfortable sharing their struggles with their parents.
However, we can educate children on how to deal with their parents and make sure all young people
have an adult they can talk to about their problems.
We recommend that all schools and social institutions assess whether they have enough focus on
making these adults accessible to children and youngsters, who might not have a supporting adult
close by in their private life.
We recommend that all schools and social institutions assess if their teachers and social workers
have the required competences to spot and identify children and youngsters in need of a supporting
adult.
We recommend that it becomes mandatory to all primary and youth educational schools to publish
how they deal with those aspects, on their homepage.
We recommend that there has to be a national focus on these aspects and that all countries
establish an annual tradition organizing national or regional seminars to stay focused on these
issues.
Bullying
Loneliness
Low self esteem.
Social control
Vulnerable children and youth due to a lack of trustful adults in their life.
5th
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THE CHALLENGE
REGARDING UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN AND YOUTH
The LOST team has been discussing the challenges, and how to deal with all the unaccompanied
children in Europe. They have been focusing on the huge number of unaccompanied children and
youth who disappear after arriving in Europe.
In 2017, 31 400 of the asylum seekers applying for international protection in the Member States of the European Union (EU) were considered unaccompanied minors. This was nearly half the number recorded in 2016 (63 200 unaccompanied minors registered) and almost one-third of the peak registered in 2015 (95 200), but over two and a half times higher than the annual average in 2008-2013 (around 12 000 per year). In total in the EU, unaccompanied minors accounted for 15% of all asylum applicants aged less than 18 and their profiles were;
● In 2017, most unaccompanied minors seeking asylum were males (89%).
● More than two-thirds were aged 16 to 17 (77%, or about 24 200 people), while those
● aged 14 to 15 accounted for 16% (around 5 000 people) and those
● aged less than 14 accounted for 6% (almost 2 000 people).
● Afghan (17%, or around 5 300 people) continued to be the main citizenship of asylum
applicants considered to be unaccompanied minors in the EU.
More than 89,000 unaccompanied children arrived in the European Union in 2015[1], which
represents a dramatic increase from to the 23,000 unaccompanied children arriving in 2014.
According to Europol, 10,000 of these children have disappeared within hours of being registered
and only a handful have been found since. However, national reports seem to suggest that the
number of missing unaccompanied children could be much higher, and that many children go
missing before being registered by authorities.
Source: http://missingchildreneurope.eu/News&press/Post/1042/The-fate-of-missing-
unaccompanied-children-Launch-of-the-SUMMIT-report-on-safeguarding-children
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Before we present the recommendations of the LOST Partnership, we will like to present the
conclusions and recommendations formulated at the end of these two initiatives.
1st Initiative was initiated by;
● 7 partners representing 7 different countries; Belgium,
Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the United
Kingdom. This partnership has presented their work,
recommendations and conclusions based on 41 online
surveys and 17 interviews in a report published in
February 2016 named
SUMMIT REPORT
Best practice and key challenges on interagency,
cooperation to safeguard unaccompanied
children from going missing.
Reproduction of the Conclusions and recommendations from
SUMMIT REPORT
Best practice and key challenges on interagency,
cooperation to safeguard unaccompanied children from going missing.
The research aimed to identify good practices and key challenges in inter-agency cooperation in the
prevention of, and response to, vulnerable unaccompanied children who go missing from reception
centers and other types of care.
It focused on four areas, namely
● the prevention of disappearances; ● the response to disappearances; ● the after care of an unaccompanied child who returned or was found after disappearing; and ● training.
The report reflects insights from both the people who primarily deal with the reception of unaccompanied children and those who focuses on the disappearances of children. It can serve as a useful mapping exercise which can be used, with the guidance manual, to promote discussions and expert workshops across Member States. Such an exchange should form the basis for enhanced cooperation between them, with a goal of better safeguarding of children who are in a very vulnerable situation.
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The study findings strongly suggest that reinforced efforts should be devoted to developing and delivering training programs on the matter of the disappearance and protection of unaccompanied children to frontline workers. This is particularly urgent today, when the growing number of unaccompanied children arriving in Europe has required public and private organizations to hire staff, often with very little or no experience in the specific demands of this group of children and their vulnerability. This training and ongoing cooperation between parties should also be supported by research which takes the children’s point of view into account. It should document their experiences and identify their concerns and needs when they arrive in a new country unaccompanied by an adult. In addition, ongoing research on the risks (including risks of trafficking) to which unaccompanied children are exposed to is also necessary to better prevent and respond to disappearances, as these risks may lead to or be the reason for the disappearance. Research should include not only the direct experience of careers, but also intelligence gathered by law enforcement, including European and International agencies, as was done in this study. It is also clear from the report that an early and thorough risk assessment is a very important task which careers need to undertake together when deciding on the care plan for the unaccompanied child. It could trigger a faster and more appropriate response from law enforcement in the case of a child disappearing. Finally, while this study is mainly aimed at research on collaboration between services within a country, professionals often mentioned the challenges related to cross border cooperation which arise in cases of missing unaccompanied children. This matter should also be urgently addressed by specific research and projects highlighting gaps in current legislation and cross border arrangements, opportunities offered by existing tools, and new tools to cover areas where cooperation is currently inefficient.
Source:
http://missingchildreneurope.eu/Portals/0/Docs/Best%20practices%20and%20key%20challenges%2
0for%20interagency%20cooperation%20to%20safeguard%20unaccompanied%20migrant%20childr
en%20from%20going%20missing.pdf
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2nd Initiative
● Was a seminar planned and implemented by The
Foundation of Susi & Peter Robinson and Danish Red
Cross. The conclusions and recommendations are
presented in the report, published shortly after;
How do we create the BEST WELCOME for children and youngsters who flee alone?
The purpose of the conference was to elucidate how the
unaccompanied refugee children receive the best support from
us as a society and fellow human beings.
Reproduction of the Conclusions and recommendations from
How do we create the BEST WELCOME for children and youngsters who flee alone?
The text written on the invitation to the conference.
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“We are talking about a special group of refugees who are both
strong but also extremely vulnerable and who have sometimes
been subjected to failure or exploitation during their long flee from
their home country.
Most have fled from war, conflict or severe poverty. Some have
lost one or both parents and some have been sent ahead of
desperate families. It is therefore a group of refugees that we
have a special responsibility to take care of, both morally and
ethically.
When they come to Denmark, it is very important to have a
targeted and quick way to create stability in their lives. They are
children and young people with a long future ahead of them and
who are to stay in Denmark for some of the most significant and
identity-creating years of their lives. They have the right to special
protection from us as a society and they need maximum support
to establish themselves and be included in the community. We
must be aware of and responsible to that.”
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RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE BACKGROUND OF THE CONFERENCE Based on the conference where 240 people - volunteers, professionals, politicians and citizens participated, it was decided that political and administrative action is needed in the following areas:
1. The uncertainty that unaccompanied refugee children are exposed to, because the rules of immigration on temporary residence permits is an obstacle for them. An unaccompanied child who is currently granted a temporary residence permit should instead be granted a residence permit for permanent residence.
2. Unaccompanied refugee children must be able to stay with close relatives as early as possible during the asylum process.
3. There is great uncertainty about the current form of age study. The current physical
examinations should therefore not stand alone but be combined with an assessment of the young person's maturity based on an interview with a child psychologist.
4. A volunteer guardian must be appointed as soon as possible when the child moves from an
asylum center to a municipality. The authorities' case handling should be significantly improved so that the child receives the necessary support quickly.
5. Authorities should, as far as possible, search for unaccompanied refugee children to be placed at municipalities who have experience in receiving refugee children. Priorities should be given to municipalities with fixed procedures for the reception.
6. All unaccompanied refugee children should be offered education in their mother tongue and
interviews with psychologists which, if possible, should be in their own language. 7. All unaccompanied refugee children should be offered leisure arrangements in conjunction
with other domestic children and young people. Therefore, they should also live centrally with easy access to educational sites, leisure activities and associations.
Source: https://www.ft.dk/samling/20151/almdel/UUI/bilag/120/1616006.pdf
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The best way of dealing with the disappearance of unaccompanied children is to prevent the
disappearance.
In that sense the LOST group agree to the conclusions and recommendations presented in
● The SUMMIT REPORT/ Best practice and key challenges on interagency, cooperation to
safeguard unaccompanied children from going missing
and in ● The report How do we create the BEST WELCOME for children and youngsters who flee
alone?
We recommend that all relevant authorities try to act accordingly to these recommendations.
The LOST team believe that it is important to stay focused on this challenge, although the numbers
on the graphics on page 11 indicates that the situation is returning to a normal level of 10,000 to
12,000 children and adolescents per year.
The LOST partnership therefore recommends that relevant authorities or some engaged NGOs
ensure that the annual national conferences will be held continuously.
The LOST partnership recommends that the communication between different arrival centers in
Europe should be assessed on how it can be strengthened when it comes to sharing the profiles
and characteristics of unaccompanied children arriving and disappearing from the arrival centers.
In order to make sure that all centers all over Europe become aware that “something is going on” as
soon as possible, they need to know the patterns and characteristics of children and youngsters
disappearing.
● Coming from the same areas
● Having the same cultural background
● Arrives by similar methods and canals.
A lot of children and young people are often instructed on where to go after arriving. If these
disappearances were reported to a euro-homepage, everyone could see the 6 to 10 most important
personal characteristics. It could contribute to a stronger awareness of children and youngsters
leaving these centers.
The LOST partnership recommends a database of DNA and fingerprints from each unaccompanied minor to ease identification all over Europe, improving the tools to prevent and fight human trafficking and ensuring a correct identification of the minor. A unified database at a European level would be the first requirement.
6th
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Recommendations
The disappearance of Adults When it comes to the disappearance of adults, it is a challenge that adults have a legal right to
disappear. There is a lot of knowledge of why adults want to disappear.
Group 1: They want to start a new life in another place, more or less voluntarily
Group 2: They feel forced to disappear. In many cases because they want to hurt them self
Group 3: The group that dissapear without intention.
We won’t focus on group 1. There is a lot of knowledge about group 2. There is a history of
psychological dissatisfaction caused by stress and low self-esteem in the majority of adult
disappearances. The adults find it difficult to find a reason to stay.
We recommend that the authorities and decisionmakers in the EU try to find the best solutions to
meet this increasing challenge among senior citizens and to identify the people at risk.
We recommend that the responsible national and local authorities make sure that adults have free
access to
A pshycological hotline – by phone and face to face in the local area.
A financial hotline – by phone and face to face in the local area.
A legal/juristical hotline – by phone and fact to face in the local area.
We recommend that the responsible local authorites ensure that all the households in the local area
are informed about the hotlines. In many cases, the target group for this kind of information might
not be the threatened person but people close to this person. Therefore, it is important that the
information also present the option for relatives to call if they are concerned and to have a talk about
signs and symptoms of a potential disappearance. The objective of this free council is to keep and
stay in contact with people for as long as it takes to persuade them to find the right support.
We know all these options exist in varies models in different countries. We recommend that the local
authorities make sure that their local offers and systems works and if there is no system, we
recommend that the local authorities establish a “system of free counselling”.
In some countries, there are different obligatory health systems established at workplaces and
companies by law, where a colleague is trained to take care of the health and security in the
workplaces. However, these resource people are also trained to observe how their colleagues
thrives and to observe signals and symptoms of stress, burnout, depression and abuse. They are
also trained to establish the first contact to colleagues in need.
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Reduce the number of disappearance of people suffering from psychological
challenges or mental illnesses
A big challenge is the people suffering from diseases that have lost their mental abilities. They
disappear and are unable to find their way back home again.
It differs how the legislation regarding personal freedom is formulated in different countries. The
legal preventive measures to secure people suffering from dementia and avoid their disappearance
also vary. In some countries, the number of fatal outcomes of disappearances is related to senior
citizens suffering from dementia.
As an illustration of this challenge, Denmark has almost 85.000 people diagnosed with dementia. On
average Denmark has
600 to 700 “normal” cases of missing people
1.100 to 1.200 disappearances of people suffering from dementia.
On average 10 to 16 of the disappeared are not found in time and the disappearance becomes fatal.
In Europe it is estimated that 10,5 million people suffer from dementia. Comparing this figure to the
Danish figure it can be expected that Europe has 124.000 to 148.000 cases of people suffering from
dementia getting lost.
If we set an average based on the Danish figures of 10 to 16 fatal disappearances per year at 13, it
means that 1.599 to 1.610 people suffering from dementia will die every year as a result of taking a
walk and not being found in due time.
It is possible to prevent that people suffering from mental loss walk away from home and get lost.
2 potential approaches to prevent people suffering from dementia becoming lost
1. We have sufficient medical tools. We can easily passivate them so they can’t walk anywhere.
2. We can lock them up.
We don’t recommend any of these methods.
We believe senior citizens should have the same rights and freedom to live their lives and have
support in doing so from their spouse, family and professionals.
7th
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We recommend that the authorities make sure that the seniors suffering from dementia are being
taken care of by enough care staff and a care staff specialized in dementia. If the staff have the right
competences the number of conflicts and disappearances will be dramatically reduced.
A lot of care institutions haven’t got guidelines on how to react when a person goes missing. It
means that time can be wasted.
In many cases a person suffering from dementia still have their physical skills and can walk quite
fast.
A person can walk at a speed of 4 to 5 km per hour. In this case we make it 3.
In 15 minutes this person will walk 750 meters. But it might be in any direction which creates
a search area of 0,563 km2
In 30 minutes this person will walk 1.500 meters = a seach area of 2,25 km2 or 5 times
bigger than 15 minutes.
In 45 minutes the person will walk 2.250 meters = a search area of 5,06 km2 or 10 times
bigger.
In 60 minutes the person will walk 3.000 meter = a seach area of 9 km2 or 18 times bigger.
Because the people suffering from dementia often walk away without suitable clothes, a few hours
outside can be fatal.
We recommend that the responsible authorities make sure that there are clear guidelines on how
the staff should react when they realize that someone is missing. In to many cases important time is
wasted because the staff don’t know how to act.
We recommend
That the authorities make sure that the guidelines become a general part of the introduction
of new staff.
That all people found in due time and where they were found is reported.
o It will ensure that the staff know where to start looking for the missing person, after
having made the relevant calls and warnings to other relevant people according to
the guidelines.
We recommend that the responsible authorities make it mandatory to all care homes and
institutions where the risk of people going away is a part of daily work life, to have a clear plan for
the after care of the staff on duty when people get lost and particularly when the situation has a fatal
outcome. We will recommend that a look at this plan becomes a part of the introduction of new staff
and that it becomes obligatory to be debriefed after a fatal loss.
We recommend that the responsible authorities look up the opportunty to establish a system where
all care homes and institutions have access to a drone and a competent person to handle the drone.
If Danish institutions taking care of our children and families lost 1100 children a year and 10 to 16
of these disappearances ended up fatal, it would be a big story in Denmark and action would have
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been taken years ago. It seems to be handled differently when it is senior citizens suffering from
dementia.
We recommend that the responsible authorities make sure that the “disappearances” become a
mandatory part of all educational programs of social and health staff. We do not believe it should be
a big subject but a thematic course of a few lessons, where the students focus on
Prevention of disappearances.
o Signals and signs of a walk away patient.
o Many efforts can be taken to reduce the numbers of disapperances. See appendix 2
How to react when a person is missing.
o We know what choices people going for a walk make and don’t make.
After care.
o It is stressful when someone is fatally lost. How do we deal with it? Some staff might
only be 20 when they have to face it.
None of us are trained to be the spouse, relatives or friends to a person developing dementia.
We recommend that the responsible authorities make sure, that there are courses and counselling
opportunities to family members and friends of people who have dementia. These courses should,
among many things, focus on how to prevent that the person disappears without limiting the
person’s freedom.
Using the GPS method is not legal in many countries as it challenges personal freedom and the
protection of a person’s privacy.
The legislation regarding what it takes to declare a person incapable of managing their own affairs
differ in many countries.
In many countries the human rights of people suffering from dementia is violated daily. There is a
huge difference in categories and levels of dementia. Many people suffering from dementia are
aware, recognize and feel their human rights being violated every day.
We recommend, that a national testament is developed and implemented to avoid the legal
challenges of putting a GPS on a person suffering from dementia.
Such a legal testament will allow people to declare how they would like their surroundings to act
regarding this issue.
For a start and for further inspiration a standard text could look like this:
● If I, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx is diagnosed with a disease causing mental loss and develop a
behavior, where I no longer will be able to find my way, I hereby accept by my signature
while being fully conscious and with 2 witnesses, that I in this particularly situation accept
that a GPS will be placed somewhere on me, so that the people who care for me, will be able
to track me if I disappear.
We recommend direct financial support to families and institutions to provide GPS trackers where
their use is allowed.
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We recommend that a disappearance should be treated as an emergency and be dealt with in an
immediate manner, activating all means to locate the missing person as fast as possible. It’s
important to launch an immediate search and alert the closest environment of the missing person.
Family and people close by will perform a search of the areas closest to the missing person and
based on the missing person’s daily routines.
SUPPORT the NGOs
The public and the support of volunteer searches is crucial to the police and other authorities in
many situations.
We recommend that the relevant authorities consider the opportunity to support relevant and
serious working NGOs.
In Sweden FIKK (NGO regarding Missing People) is financially supported by the Swedish state and
there are other examples of national or regional support to NGOs. Generally, NGOs has to raise
money by funding.
Such a support will help the NGOs work and the NGOs will be able to;
● Provide educated and trained volunteers to support the police and law enforcement in searches for
missing people: Provide volunteer searches acting according to national law regarding missing people
and according to the guidelines provided by the police and law enforcement.
● Provide volunteers who are trained and have the competences to organize and lead the volunteers. It
will strengthen and make the searches more efficient and reduce the cost and resources used by the
police and other forces.
● Solve other tasks related to a case of a missing person.
o Taking care of the family, having the knowhow of what to do and how to do it.
o To continue long lasting searches, after the police have reduced their search activities, often
when an outcome is no longer expected to be positive. It means a lot to a family that
someone still cares about looking for their loves one.
● To focus on building up a nationwide organization of trained, well-educated, trustful and engaged
volunteers that can act quickly and accordingly to the national law regarding the guidelines provided
by the police and law enforcement, instead of spending their time chasing small funding’s.
● Increase the efforts to raise awareness on the issue of Missing People.
o Collecting the experiences from all searches, domestic and abroad, and being connected to
other NGOs. Become a knowledge bank of disappearances.
8th
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o Develop and offer small educational programs for primary and youth educational institutions
regarding the issue of children and youth going missing.
o Develop and offer small educational programs for relevant care institutions regarding the
issue of children and youth going missing.
o Offer lectures targeting different relevant stakeholders.
We believe it would be a good idea to support elected NGOs within the area of Missing People for
multiple reasons.
There is a huge interest among citizens to support police/ law enforcement when it comes to missing
people. The huge interest and willingness among civilians is very obvious, whenever a call for a
search is announced in local areas.
It requires a lot of manpower from the police to complete a search. The police have limited
resources in many countries.
It can be a huge investment of hundreds and thousands of workhours for the police to prioritize a
search and will force the police to prioritize among other important tasks.
The police search for longer when a young person goes missing than an elderly person suffering
from dementia. There is probably a public understanding that the police invest more in search for a
16-year-old girl than a person with dementia.
However, to the families and friends it is their worst-case scenario they are going through. Missing
one’s spouse, parent or family member is unbearable. NGOs have shown in many countries that
they are able to keep searching for a long time and be close to the families for even longer.
It is the experience that the police often refrain from involving civilian volunteers in searches for
missing people. When they do involve volunteers, it seems that they ask for support from the public
very late.
There are probably many good reasons why the police seem hesitant to summon volunteers:
● It requires more work to register and organize hundreds of volunteers showing up. The police
probably have to decide and ask themselves if it isn’t better to use this extra manpower for
the next 1 or 2 hours to search themselves.
● They don’t know how the volunteers will act.
● To avoid destruction of tracks and leads.
Financial support to NGOs will ensure that the police will be able to have trained volunteers and
won’t have to worry about the potential negative consequences of having volunteers involved in
searches.
A real case (presented as Appendix 4) shows why we believe it is time for the authorities to consider
supporting NGOs. They have a huge potential in manpower for searches after missing people.
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Appendix
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Appendix 1:
Anti-bullying Policy
The School at the Lakes Anti-bullying Policy is based on the material Free of Bullying developed by the NGO Save
the Children in collaboration with the Mary Foundation.
Objective: The School at the Lakes must be a safe place for children and adults. Tolerance, respect and a fundamental understanding of diversity must characterize the school’s many communities. What is bullying? Not all negative actions that cause frustration and anger is bullying. There is a difference between conflicts, teasing and bullying. Common to all of them is that the students must be taken seriously. The children must learn to tackle conflicts and to enter social relations and communities. From the School at the Lakes we have the following characteristics for bullying: • Bullying is a group phenomenon. • The acts of exclusion have a systematic character. • The forms of bullying can be direct or indirect. • Bullying takes place in a social context that the child cannot withdraw from or avoid. (Helle Rabøl Hansen, 2010) We will describe what characterizes a bully community. The many forces of bullying are difficult to describe briefly. Therefore, at the bottom of the page, we refer to a websites and literature where more nuanced and in-depth information can be found. Bullying is not caused by evil children/youngsters but by evil patterns. Bullying can be understood as a poor culture in a community. Bullying is a group phenomenon that affects all children in a class. Bullying is thus not a problem that can be solved with a single child who bully, even though it can easily be experienced as such. Bullying occurs in a community characterized by a low tolerance threshold. The community can be very concerned with what is right and what is wrong. It is not necessarily characterized by one or more bullies and a victim. The children's positions can change. Common to all the children is the underlying fear of being excluded from the community. It is difficult to find a direct reason why a class might experience bullying. One must see the class as a living
organism that is constantly being influenced from the outside. There may be reactions to divorces, hard jargon
in the media (e.g. X-factor or Paradise hotel), teacher change, lack of work with the class community etc.
Therefore, it is necessary that the work with the class has a constant focus, as the class is exposed to a constant
influence that can affect the class community.
Sometimes it can be difficult to see if there is bullying or not. There can be "a bullying style" in the class. The
bullying style can be about a tough tone - often wrapped up in "it's just for fun". Being in a class with "a bullying
style" can be incredibly hard to be a part of and will be something that influence most people in the class.
Conflicts: In conflicts, we learn how to deal with disagreements and relationships with our own and others' attitudes. Conflicts, inconsistencies, misunderstandings and frustrations arise in all relationships. Conflicts are therefore an important lesson in relation to being with other people. It is important that there is a focus on the process and not on who is right.
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Managing a conflict can be briefly outlined in three steps: Listen to and acknowledge the different experiences of the conflict and its contents.
Ask what the individual child might have wanted instead. Invite the children to find a solution together (which adults can help adjust).
Of course, very young children need more help than older children who have a better language, more impulse inhibition and reflective abilities. The important thing is that the adult listens to and recognizes the child's experience, and that the child's inputs and ideas have value.
In club Filippa, the students have the opportunity to get help in dealing with conflicts through mediation from an educator.
Prevention: The school's staff and parents are with the children daily and have the opportunity and responsibility to
prevent bullying. This applies to all school staff and parents. It is always the adult's responsibility to do
something about bullying. It must be a collaboration between staff and parents.
Languages and publicity: If we are negative in our language, the children, parents or colleagues get a lack of tolerance and it
contributes to the marginalization of these groups. Therefore, it is essential that all adults around the
children are aware of theirs actions and language. Be aware of how differences and disagreements are
dealt with in e.g. the parent or staff group. We know, according to research, that there are the most cases of bullying in 4th-7th. grade. (Free of
Bullying). Therefore, it is important to work systematically with prevention already from the start of
school. At the School at the Lakes, groups are established in the parent group from the start of school. We
regard this as a part of a valuable work to strengthen the class community. The adults must constantly be aware that their actions do not put any children in vulnerable positions.
Actions arranged in the best sense can sometimes have the opposite effect.
When bullying is discovered When bullying occurs, follow these steps: When there is suspicion or knowledge of bullying, contact the management and the AKT supervisor, who convenes an emergency meeting with teachers and educators in the class. Brief information about what characterizes bullying and how they, as parents must relate is sent out to. Employees from the AKT team have individual conversations with all the children in the class. Subsequently, the immediately implicated parents are summoned to a meeting where they are informed and where the staff and parents have a dialogue about what is at stake for the individual child. Based on the conversations with staff, students and parents, a course is composed for the whole class. The focus must be on building a good community through teaching, dialogue and activities. When the process has started, the parents are summoned to a meeting with the participation of the teacher team, educator, AKT team and a representative from the management. This is held about one month after the start of the process. If necessary, a children's evening is made and the parents get a brief introduction to bullying through presentations and activities. After this, agreements are made on the parents' contribution to the building of the class community. The AKT teacher follows the course closely and is a sparring partner in the time during and after the course. It takes time - sometimes years - to rebuild a good community and requires commitment from both parents, students and teachers.
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Appendix 2: The shown screen shots are a translated homepage from Denmark which has information and educational material for primary schools. Source. www.Mobbestop.dk
Welcome to Bulling stop - a project supported by TrygFoundation. Here you will find free educational
materials and activities to strengthen the community and prevent bullying.
Strengthen the community
Strengthen the community
and prevent bullying. Read our good advice on
reputable class management
and find specific activities that can strengthen the
community.
For teachers / educators Teach the students to tell
someone when the see others being bullied,
strengthen the community through class activities, management,
info for parents, etc. Find
the overview here.
For parents Why does bullying occur
and what can you do about it? What is your role as a
parent and how do you best talk to your child if it is
being bullied?
Read more Read more Read more
Why is bullying
happening? It is random who is being bullied. Bullying is caused
by a bad climate in and
around the class and affects everyone
That is how you talk to a
child who is being
bullied Many children find that the
adults do not respond appropriately when they
say they are being bullied.
If you experience bullying
What can you do if you are
bullied or you see others being bullied? Find good advice for students here
Read more Read more Read more
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The homepage also includes videos to be watched with the students. The website also contains material that can be handed out before talks and discussions with the pupils and youngsters.
Interfere when you see someone being bullied
Don't ignore it When you see others being bullied, there are several things you can do:
Go to the one who is being bullied and say, "let’s go". Tell an adult, e.g. a teacher or your parents. Tell the person who is bullying to stop. It can be hard to do if you are alone. Look around and find others to say stop with you. Comfort and support the person being bullied. It can be by sending a nice text
message. Be brave! If you intervene, for example, by going to an adult and telling them what you have seen, or by supporting the student being bullied, you have reason to be proud of yourself. You are a good companion and a strong person that others feel comfortable with.
Read more
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Appendix 3:
Prevent disappearances
Lena paints beautiful obstacles that stop people with dementia from leaving the institutions.
At a nursing home in Frederiksværk birds and colors have been painted on the walls. The intention
is to make people stay indoors and not leave unaccompanied.
The woman behind the motifs is the artist Lena Heegaard.
She has 12 years of experience with murals in institutions and nursing homes and has no doubt that
it works in most cases.
On the entrances and doors, she has painted piles of stones, garden rockets and other obstacles
that "blocks" the exit.
“When Mrs Hansen comes rolling with her walker, she stops here, because there are a lot of stones.
She goes the other way”, she says as she puts her last brush stroke on the work:
“It is better that they stay here and give some bread to the chickens that I have painted. Or a little
milk for the hedgehog on the wall than they go out in the traffic”.
Establishing fake bus stops outside the care home is another simple way of delaying the person
disappearing.
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Appendix 4:
Improve Protocols at a European level
In Europe there are about 10,000 unsolved disappearances annually. The first victimization involves
the disappearance and the suffering caused by the legal consequences of it. The second
victimization is the sense of incomprehension.
The absence of integrated and homogeneous statistics or structured work around this type of events
is striking.
The testimonies of those affected and the police officers who assist allow us to point out the
following opportunities for improvement in the prevention procedures of this type of problems, their
investigation and assistance to the families of the victims:
The response must be European because of the enormous incidence of cross-border cases
(25%), the involvement in the care of multilevel public services and because of crimes involving
transnational criminal organizations. The response must be triggered at all levels of care in which
responses are offered, from local to European, but in a coordinated and coherent manner.
Prevention:
1. More and better analysis on the problem of disappearances in Europe. There is a lack of
homogeneous statistics, structured research programs and general approaches to study by
institutions on this issue. They seem essential given the complexity of personal,
administrative and legal situations that occur after a disappearance. They will help to
organize more realistic protocols.
2. More training for professionals in the three phases; prevention, search and assistance. The
victims need reliable information about the investigations that are carried out to locate the
disappeared. The victims should be oriented about the complexity of the situation they face
and the nature and location of the public resources they can mobilize.
3. Social awareness in general about missing people. In the clarified cases, the testimony of
people who hesitated to provide key information to the authorities were crucial. We must put
this issue on the social and political agenda
4. Training for risk groups: training modules on behavior and connection procedures with the
authorities. Modules aimed at people who will participate in the European mobility programs.
5. Adequate financing of non-governmental organizations that carry out assistance work with
this type of victims. Transparency, control and rendering of accounts on the procedures to
dedicate the funds and their use.
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6. Research and development of new anti-disappearance technologies. Geolocation devices to
be implemented in risk groups and development of search techniques in areas by drones or
infrared procedures etc. Proactive use of the opportunities offered by social networks in
search processes.
7. Reflection on the role and treatment that conventional media give this topic. Promotion of
citizen collaboration, dissemination of emotional and legal problems and operation of support
services.
Investigation and resolution:
1. Radical improvement of the coordination. Databases with genetic material of missing people
and specialized units in the investigation of this type of cases, working together at a
European level, sharing experiences and promoting a process of permanent improvement of
research protocols and attention to the victims. Specialized training for professionals
2. More proactive action in investigations. Early warnings and activation of coordinated
searches in the environment without harming clues that improve the possibilities of finding
the missing person.
3. To value the monitoring and investigation of the data and relationships managed by social
assistance organizations that deal with certain areas of marginality.
4. To emphasize the investigation and repression of trafficking networks of human beings in all
its aspects and of specific crimes such as organ trafficking.
5. Strengthened monitoring and improvement of crime victims 'offerings and assistance,
described in the 2012/29 Directive focusing on crime victims, victims' access to support,
guidance, financial assistance, translation and other necessary assistance in criminal
matters in all Member States.
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Appendix 5:
A thought experiment
Let’s exemplify having strong nationwide NGOs within the area of missing people.
Denmark has.
● 600 to 700 missing people per year
● + 1.000 to 1.200 situations where a person suffering from dementia is missing.
The Island of Bornholm is almost 588 km2 and have almost 40.000 inhabitants and its remarkable to
make the following calculation. 588 km2 is similar to 588.000.000 m2 and out of these, 341 km2
similar to 341.000.000 m2, are cultivated and can be searched by drones.
More areas on the Island can be searched by drones. In this case we set the number of km2 to 400
km2.
A real case: An elderly person was reported missing late Friday afternoon the 13th of April, seen
riding his bike on the island of Bornholm.
He was developing dementia and had apparently left his home in Rønne but could not
find his way back.
He was found dead on the 28th of April around noon 16 km from his home.
Sunday the 28th of April, a random citizen found the body of a person in the area
around the fishing lodge Teglkås on the west coast of Bornholm.
The small village of Teglkås is placed 16 km from Rønne.
The police quickly determined that the body was the missing person and the relatives
were immediately informed.
The police emphasize that there is nothing to indicate that the deceased had been
subjected to a crime.
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● 10 drones operated by trained volunteers can search 4 km2
per hour. If they search for 10 hours = 400 km2
● 10 trained dogs lead by volunteers can search 0,5 km2 per
hour. If the search for 10 hours = 50 km
● 30.000 households of an average ground area of 1.000 m2
search their own private area = 30 km2
It leaves 108.000.000 m2 to be manual searched.
For comparison a football ground / soccer field is normally approximately 60 m x 110 m = 6.6oo m2.
An average person walks at a speed of 4 to 5 km. If we go for a speed of 4 km per hour, it means
that a person can search 4 football grounds in 1 hour.
It means that 20.000 people using 12 minutes could make sure that the rest of the island had been
checked, but it is probably not realistic.
It is more realistic to pre organize 625 or 300 volunteers, who will spend 6,5 hours to 13,6 hours
going through areas pre-designated, by an NGO within the
area of Missing People.
In this case the lost person was riding a bike.
According to public information Bornholm have 1.100 km of
public road.
20 volunteering people could have checked all the roads in
less than one hour in a car going 60 km/h.
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The question is
● Will it be possible for a NGO to build up a group of 300 to 400 volunteers to take part in a
search?
● Who are the volunteers? Who can take part in the search?
Experiences from the involved NGOs in the LOST project show that a huge number of people,
having very different profiles engage themselves in this kind of volunteer work.
If the work of the NGO is well prepared in due time, including having a high level of information,
many people can and will be able to leave their work for 1 or 2 hours with the blessing of their
employers.
But the majority of people who join this kind of volunteer work seems to be
● Retired people
● People on early retirement
● Students
People who can drop what they have in their hands if they are needed.
Back to the question
● Will it be possible for a supported NGO to build up a group of 300 to 400 volunteers to take
part in the next search on the Island of Bornholm? Or at any other location in Europe
similar to the area of Bornholm?
● Will 4 to 6 people out of these 3 to 400 volunteers be motivated and engaged enough,
o that they will invest time and take part in the 8-module educational program
developed by the LOST project?
o That they will invest the needed time to be sure they have the necessary
competences to plan and implement a search in an efficient way according to the
national law and the overall rules stated by the police?
The LOST network think that it is possible. The LOST network also believe it could be done quite
easily, if serious working NGOs within this field received as small annual financial support.
Would it have saved the person who went missing the 13 of April at the Island of Bornholm? Would
he have been found in due time before he ended up in the harbor at Teglkås?
It is impossible to say.
But we believe that the people who helped the person back on his bike after he fell, probably would
have reacted differently if there had been a higher awareness among people in general about the
issue.
Could the fatal outcome been avoided, if a strong NGO had had the power to build up a strong
organizational unit at Bornholm? A unit that had the time to involve and engage people. To build up
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reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 38
Co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union
a warning system, so all the people connected to this system had received a SMS warning as soon
as it became clear that the person had left on bike and was at risk of getting lost.
It is impossible to say.
What we can say is that it would have been an important support to the families and friends of this
missing person if someone cared so much that an ongoing search for the person took place.