International Missing Children’s Day(IMCD) is annually observed across the globe on 25th May to create awareness about the issues of child abduction and educate the parents about the measures to protect and safeguard their children.
Aim:
- To spread awareness about children who go missing across the globe.
- To focus on the efforts to find the children who went missing.
‘Forget me not’ flower is the official emblem of the International Missing Children’s Day.
Background:
i.The day was initiated as the National Missing Children’s Day in the United States by President Ronald Reagan in 1983.
ii.The day was established following the disappearance of Etan Patz from New York, the United States in 1979.
iii.In 2001, 25th May was first formally recognised as the International Missing Children’s Day, as a result of a joint effort by the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC), Missing Children Europe and the European Commission.
Global Missing Children’s Network:
i.The Global Missing Children’s Network (GMCB) was launched in 1998 as a joint venture of the ICMEC and the US’s National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
ii.The GMCB helps to recover the missing and abducted children.
About International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC):
Chairman– Dr. Franz B. Humer
Headquarters– Alexandria, Virginia, United States
