Media reveal over 18,000 disappearances of unaccompanied children who were registered in Europe since 2018 “Lost in Europe”, a cross-national investigative journalism project, revealed that 18,292 unaccompanied children were registered as missing between 2018 and 2020. It is thought that children go missing because of inadequate reception conditions, lengthy and complex family reunification procedures, lack of cross border cooperation and lack of information of both professionals and children. Data on the nationalities of missing children is not available for all EU countries, or only available until 2019, and the research revealed that available data on missing unaccompanied children is often incomplete or inconsistent. French NGOs ask UN committee to examine situation of unaccompanied children Various associations in France have petitioned the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, asking the Committee to investigate the treatment of unaccompanied children and potential child rights violations. The petition contains various proof and data and argues that the children are harmed because they are too often erroneously categorised as adults, which is aggravated by the lack of harmonisation of practices within the French territory. The petitioners hope that a Committee inquiry will help reform the regulatory framework currently in force in France. Human Rights Watch warns that French police expel children to Italy by changing birth dates According to Human Rights Watch French police summarily expelled dozens of unaccompanied children to Italy each month in violation of French and international law, by recording on official documents different ages or birth dates than the children declared. The authorities are also thought to have returned adults, including families with young children, without telling them they had a right to seek asylum or apply for a residence status in France.