Thailand Mirror will work together to compile the 2023 national data on missing children, which is the largest number of missing children in 5 years, reminding parents to pay more attention to their children and not be careless.
Marlowe, deputy director of the Bureau of Children and Women's Welfare, and Aikara, director of the Missing Persons Information Center of the Mirror Society, recently released statistics on missing children in 2023.
According to the 2023 Missing Children Report of the Mirror** Society, a total of 296 children are missing, which is the highest number of missing children in five years, an increase of 17% compared to 2022, of which 172 children have run away from home on their own, accounting for 58%, followed by 56 missing children with developmental delays, intellectual disabilities or mental illness, accounting for 19, and 5 children have been abducted.
The average age of missing children is 138 between 11 and 15 years old, followed by 96 between 16 and 18 years old, and 62 children between the ages of 11 and 10.
According to the data, children are willing to go out with people they know or talk to, such as social accounts, and even if the child leaves home voluntarily, the outside world presents many dangers for children, including threatening or sexually exploiting children or being at risk of being cheated on, or being subjected to violence.
Deputy Director of the Bureau of Children and Women's Welfare, Marlowe, said that missing children are considered an important issue in society, which is a problem in every country in the world. In Thailand, although the majority of missing children leave their homes voluntarily, they eventually report to the police and take each case seriously, because when the child walks out of the house there is a danger that sexual harassment or exploitation of the child may occur, there is a risk of unprotected sexual behaviour that will cause social problems in other areas, and they may also become victims of human trafficking.
Therefore, parents are reminded to pay more attention to their children, especially children aged 4-10 years old, they are the group with the highest risk of being kidnapped, and the highest risk factor is that parents let their children run around alone, even if it is a place where the child plays, a familiar place, when the child is alone, criminals will take advantage of this opportunity to approach the child.