Millions of children go missing every year in the world. In India, however, every eight minutes, a child goes missing.
According to the annual National Crime Record Bureau’s (NCRB) “Crime in India” 2019 report, a total of 73,138 children were reported missing during the year. The report also states that the number of missing children has increased by 8.9% in 2019. In 2018, the number of missing children was 67,134. A total of 71,253 children were recovered.
According to data by the Ministry of Home Affairs, only about 50 per cent of the missing children from Chennai were able to be traced between 2017 to 2019.
Also, a total of 1,555 cases of missing children were reported in Rajasthan between January-July 2020.
The children often end up in forced labour, domestic slavery and sex work. However, the missing children cases rarely dominate headlines and there is little public outrage.
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In order to find the missing children, the police officials mainly depend on public information. Officials put up posters of the missing children in public places and also circulate the images on social media.
However, this does not help get any information as the public pays little to no attention to the posters. This problem persists all over the world and South Korea came up with a unique solution.
Hope Tape
In South Korea, 661 children have been missing for over a year with 638 unseen for more than five years.
In order to help find long-term missing children, Cheil Worldwide and the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) launched the “Hope Tape” campaign on International Missing Children’s Day, May 25 last year.
Cheil Worldwide created the Hope Tape – a specially-designed parcel packaging with missing children’s information printed on it. It serves as a medium for delivering children’s information directly to people’s doorsteps all across the nation.
The tape carries children’s photos taken at the time of their disappearance, their age progression images using KNPA’s technology. Also, other information including their physical features and places last seen are printed.
It also contains QR code that connects to the police’s dedicated mobile app where people can report and search about missing children. They can also register fingerprints of their children that can be later used in case of disappearance.
“We ask for the urgent attention and cooperation of citizens and communities around the country to help give hope and encouragement to families of children who have gone missing. By organizing the Hope Tape campaign, we seek to draw attention to this terribly sad situation,” the KNPA said in a statement.
In the year 2020, from May to June, HOPE TAPE was used in packing 62000 parcels delivered across the country through courier service providers Korea post and Hanjin Transportation.
Cheil also created a film that shows the process of HOPE TAPE from production to delivery. Cheil plans to open its design right of HOPE TAPE to companies and organizations who wish to participate and further spread the campaign.
Truck art in Pakistan
A similar style of the campaign was done in Pakistan in 2019, but this time the photos of the missing children were painted on the goods truck traveling in and around the country.
Truck art is popular in Pakistan with humorous messages and paintings painted on the vehicle.
The Roshni Helpline and multinational paint producer Berger Paints launched the campaign, the Truck Art Child Finder.
According to the Roshni Helpline 1138, more than 3,000 children are reported missing in Pakistan every year. Seven children have been recovered through the program so far. Now, there are 20 such trucks covering different routes across the country.
As told earlier, India reports one missing child case every eight minutes and due to the pandemic, the cases of missing children have drastically increased. The Childhelpline has conducted a study that shows that nearly 2.7 lakh calls have been received during the pandemic.
It is high time that the government of India too comes up with unique initiatives like South Korea and Pakistan to help track missing children in the country.
