Missing Children Europe - Supporting Committee - Golfing for MCE - Skiing for MCE

Coordination and Communication Supporting Committee

Assistance General Secretariat

Ski Marathon

Golf Competition

This is where the vital work of our Supporting Committee comes in. The Supporting Committee assists the General Secretariat of MCE in establishing partnerships with commercial organisations, we organise fundraising events and also help with MCE's external communications.

Events are always organised with a minimum amount of cost as many sponsors offer their equipment and services to the charity on a low cost, or no cost basis. The Supporting Committee and any other event-specific organising committees are made up exclusively of volunteers. In this way we can ensure that 100% of the donations and a large proportion of the event registration fees go directly to the cause of missing and sexually exploited children.

A teenage runaway may not seem that uncommon, but for the parents who are waiting for the return of their son or daughter, in the knowledge that every night they spend away from home they are vulnerable to brutality and physical or psychological aggression, the wait can be unbearable… What if their child runs out of money? Where or who will they turn to for food or shelter? Whatever happens, it's a long wait...

Perhaps even more worrying is the fact that children who run away, in most cases, run away from something else: depression, conflict, abuse… the suicide rate among runaways is 9 times higher than among their peers, so it is vital that we address the root causes of their problems.

The same goes for parental abductions. More and more international couples and higher and higher divorce rates have contributed to an increasing number of parental abductions. When a crisis occurs within a couple's relationship, the child is often the stake on which the conflict focuses. Sometimes the parent without legal custody of the child decides not to take him back after a week-end and hides the child in another country. Due to the complexity of the legal processes in different countries, it may take years before a child sees their other parent again. So, once again, without contact with both parents the child becomes the real victim.

Sexual abuse of children is obviously a monstrosity. In addition to the physical suffering during the abuse, in the short-term, the abused child is very likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, guilt, fear, sexual dysfunction, withdrawal, and behaviour problems. The child may also display inappropriate sexual behaviour. Sexual abuse also has severe long-term consequences: high levels of anxiety in adults who were abused as children can result in self-destructive behaviour, such as alcoholism or drug abuse, anxiety attacks, situation-specific anxiety disorders, and insomnia. Research has shown that victims of child sexual abuse are also more likely to be the victims of rape or to be involved in physically abusive relationships as adults.

We believe it is vital that the wider public understands the reality surrounding these issues and that policies are designed together with our neighbouring countries to tackle these phenomena. We support Missing Children Europe because we are convinced that only cross-border policies and international action can improve the safety of children throughout Europe.