The European Parliament asks the members states of the EU to "introduce a common alert system for missing children". The Parliament’s position, adopted today through a "declaration" signed by the majority of MEPs, states that the abduction of children is one of the "most inhumane crimes" ever. The declaration mentions that such crimes are on the rise and often the victims "are carried across borders". The declaration states that "the chances of saving a child’s life decrease as time goes by" and currently "there is no alerting system in Europe nor a national or local system in most of the EU". Hence the request to create a system that immediately informs the mass media, the police and the border authorities of the details of the missing person, with a picture, as well as providing "any information about the suspected kidnappers". Across-the-border cooperation agreements and a single hotline would also help. According to the figures provided in the declaration, in 2007, 2928 children went missing in Belgium, 706 in France, 4802 in Great Britain, 984 in Italy, 354 in Romania.
