The number of child abductions from and to the Netherlands has decreased for the second year in a row. In 2024, two hundred children were victims, which is 23 percent less than the year before. In most cases, the mother was the perpetrator.
This is reported by the Center for International Child Abduction (IKO center) on Friday in its annual report. In 2023, 260 children were victims of child abduction, and in 2022 it was still 292 children. “Still, every child abduction is one too many,” says IKO director Coşkun Çörüz. “The impact on a child is significant and often long-lasting. These figures underline the importance of continued efforts for help, prevention and awareness.”
According to IKO, the decrease can possibly be explained by the fact that the center organized more contact moments between parents, aid workers and other involved parties. There were also 30 percent more preventive advice sessions, the organization says.
The foundation works together with police, border control, judges, youth care, education and the Child Care and Protection Board. They report when they receive signals about a possible child abduction, so that the foundation can talk to the parents. This is done with two mediators: one with a legal background and one with a behavioral science background.
In most cases (74 percent) the mother was the perpetrator. In 26 percent of the cases last year it was the father. “It is still the case in the Netherlands that women are often the caregiving parent,” Çörüz previously told NU.nl. “The idea is then: I’m already taking care of the child anyway. If a relationship then ends or is about to end, the mother often finds it logical that she can take the child with her.”
But domestic violence also plays a role. Çörüz: “We still see more often that in domestic violence the man hits the woman instead of the other way around. That is an extra reason for a mother to, for example, move with her child to family abroad.”
Most children who were abducted abroad ended up in Poland, Germany and the United States. 55 percent of them were five years or younger. Of the children who were abducted to the Netherlands, most of them previously lived in Poland, Belgium and Spain. About a third of them were between zero and five years old.