PRESS RELEASE

Thessaloniki, July 12, 2021

 

Seminar on good practices in the management of disappearances of minors and adults from "The Smile of the Child" in Thessaloniki

The first information seminar on the best practices for the management of disappearances of minors and adults and the operation of the European Hotline for Missing Children 116000, which took place as part of the INTERSYC II project, was successfully completed on Monday 12 July 2021 at Porto Palace in Thessaloniki. The seminar was attended by representatives of social services of local bodies, municipalities, hospitals, non-governmental organizations and associations.

The seminar aimed, on the one hand, to inform the representatives of the bodies about the services provided by the European Hotline for Missing Children 116000, in order to be utilized by as many bodies as possible and to optimize their cooperation with "The Smile of the Child" and on the other hand to transfer know-how to attendees to manage disappearances of minors and adults using tools such as the Missing Alert App.

In the first part of the seminar, information was provided on the operation of the European Hotline for Missing Children 116000, which provides free support to missing children and their families, while receiving anonymous and personal information on disappearances, which it promotes to competent authorities. It is worth noting that, in 2020, the European Hotline for Missing Children 116000 received 10,421 calls. In addition, the procedures applied and the means used by the Organization "The Smile of the Child" for the cases of disappearances of minors and adults were presented, in collaboration with the competent stakeholders.

Specifically, the National Coordination Program for timely and valid notification of citizens in cases of disappearance / abduction of minors, Amber Alert Hellas, was presented, as well as Missing Alert Hellas, which is activated in cases of missing adults, who are at risk or face serious health problems. At the same time, tools and applications were presented, such as the Missing Alert App, operated by the Organization and aimed at the immediate and faster identification of individuals. The Missing Alert App enables all citizens to contribute, in real time, to the search for missing persons, but also to protect children, as well as adults at high risk of extinction.

In the second part of the seminar was held the presentation of the Search and Rescue Team "Thanasis Makris" of the Organization, which aims to search in urban or non-urban environment, but also after natural or technological disasters, locating and rescuing injured children , are trapped, ignored, have disappeared or are victims of kidnapping or trafficking. In the last section, special emphasis was placed on the importance of psychological support for the family members of a disappearance victim, as well as on the management and coping of emotions.

The seminar is part of a comprehensive program of actions and actions carried out in the framework of the project "INTERSYC II - Integrated Territorial Synergies for Children Health and Protection II Integrated Spatial Synergies for Health and Child Protection II" of the program "Interreg VA Greece -Bulgaria "2014-2020.

"The INTERSYC II project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and by national resources of Greece and Bulgaria."