A recently published report by children’s rights organization ECPAT UK and Missing People, a charity dedicated to tracking down missing children shows that “an alarmingly high number of both unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and children who may have been trafficked go missing from care.” Albanian, Afghan, Vietnamese, and Eritrean children head the list.
As is clear from the data gathered in the report, 22% of the children that go missing are Albanian. In the period September 2014–September 2015, 84 Albanian children have gone missing from UK care facilities.
The high rate of missing Albanian children appears to be related to the fact that Albanians constitute more than a third of unaccompanied children entering the UK.
In its recently published progress report on Albania, the European Commission states that the “number of unfounded asylum applications lodged by Albanian nationals to EU Member States and Schengen associated countries has remained high” and that “Albania should take immediate and determined action […] to effectively address this phenomenon.”
So far, the Albanian government has remained unsuccessful in addressing the exodus of asylum seekers from the country.
