Key non-governmental groups and officials have urged the Euopean Union to urgently tackle the ‘growing problem’ of street children moving from Eastern to Western Europe by improving cross-border co-operation and child protection. They made the appeal at the 'European Forum On Street Children 2009' in Budapest, amid concerns that the EU's open borders mean that ‘unaccompanied’ minors from poorer member states are increasingly roaming the streets of richer Western European cities. There are believed to be a quarter of a million street children in Europe, although officials cautioned that the figure may be higher because as many as 1.5 million young gypsies, also known as Roma, are ‘unregistered’. In a final declaration, delegates attending the Forum, urged the EU to realize the European Parliament's goal of ending ‘the phenomenon of street children’ by 2015.
Pray: that the governments and authorities will be able to tackle this problem speedily. (Job.14:21)