Wow,
Lost in Europe has won the IJ4EU Impact Award! We were nominated
because of our ongoing investigation into the disappearance of
Vietnamese minors in Europe. Thanks to Impact Award judges for
recognising our work. The jury said “Lost in Europe shone an important
light on the terrible story of missing migrant children".
The first prize worldwide for cross border journalism. So we are very proud and thankful.
IJ4EU Awarded our investigation into the disappearances and exploitation of Vietnamese minors in Europe.
This research is very special for us, because it was our first big research. We have learned 3 things;
1. How vulnerable the children in trafficking are, that they are actually being exploited. And that our journalistic ethics must be of a high standard.
2. How seriously we need to take the disappearances from reception centres, even if the authorities sometimes make us believe otherwise.
3. Plus how valuable joint efforts of cross border investigations are in these cases because criminal organisations do not respect borders either.
Therefore, special thanks goes to:
The team that investigated the exploitation of Vietnamese minors in nail bars in Belguim; Kristof Clerix (Knack), Doruntina Islamaj (VRT) and Roeland Termote and Wouter Woussen (De Standaard)
Trafficking of Vietnamese minors in Germany, investigated by Adrian Bartocha and Jan Wiesse for Rbb recherche and ARD
The so-called destination country for Vietnamese minors: the UK. Ismail Einashe published in The Guardian.
And the disappearances from protected shelters in the Netherlands were covered by Huub Jaspers and Sanne Terlingen for Argos Onderzoekt.
