Our investigations

Our team investigates pushbacks of (unaccompanied) minors at the inner borders of Europe. For this investigation we requested information (FOI requests) from sixteen European countries. In this file we share our experiences, as requesting information from public authorities in Schengen countries is not that simple.

Our investigative journalists analyse asylum procedures and migration policies, and research the gaps in the asylum process through which many migrant minors disappear.

Brian Donald, Chief of Staff of Europol, declared that in 2015 "10,000 refugee children in the EU are missing". Meanwhile, the European Migration Network estimates that 30,000 children traveling alone have disappeared between 2014 and 2017. Where to find the exact numbers?

Little is known about mental health issues and suicide attempts among migrants and refugees. That is why we are researching suicides and suicide attempts among unaccompanied migrants, refugee children and young people. We speak with mentors, pediatricians, psychologists, social workers, children and young people to get a better picture of this problem.

For this investigation we document the route unaccompanied minors travel within Europe, the vulnerabilities they are exposed to, and the hardship they encounter. And by speaking to many minors on the road we investigate why and how they go missing throughout Europe.

Thousands of Nigerian women and girls have been trafficked into Europe. Most are lured from Edo state with the promise of work to Italy. Although this trafficking is not new, the scale of the problem is: numbers have doubled since the migrant crisis in 2015.

For years, Vietnamese migrants have been trafficked into the UK in trucks arriving from Belgium or France. Lost in Europe searches in The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium to find out how these children can disappear from the protected shelters.