The conference will be held under the auspices of the Police Expert Network on Missing Persons, which was officially recognised by the Council’s Law Enforcement Working Party, and in cooperation with AMBER Alert Europe. The international conference, which will address one of the most complex areas of policing, will take place in Ljubljana, on 1 and 2 September 2021.

The conference, which will begin with opening addresses by the Minister of the Interior and President of the Home Affairs Council, Aleš Hojs, the President of the Police Expert Network on Missing Persons and Head of the Homicide and Sexual Offences Section of the Slovenian Police, Damjan Miklič, and Frank Hoen, Founder and Chairman of AMBER Alert Europe, will feature presentations by distinguished speakers,  providing an opportunity to reflect on and evaluate past work and explore current and future courses of action in dealing with missing persons. They will address various operational and other aspects of the search for missing persons, while the long-term goal in this field remains achieving a common European approach to dealing with missing persons, especially missing children.

In addition to police experts from over twenty European countries, the conference will bring together representatives of Interpol, Europol, Frontex and Cepol, the Bavarian Police, the Police Academy of Zagreb, and Lower Saxony in Germany. Also present will be representatives of the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office and local organisations such as the Tom Telefon helpline, the Alpine Association of Slovenia, Unicef, Ključ, as well as representatives of Österreich findet euch and Locate International.

The conference will be held at Hotel Lev, Vošnjakova 1, Ljubljana.  

Programme for the media

9:00      Opening addresses.
9:40      Statements by Aleš Hojs, Minister of the Interior and President of the Home Affairs Council, Damjan Miklič, President of the Police Expert Network on Missing Persons and Head of the Homicide and Sexual Offences Section of the Slovenian Police, and Frank Hoen, Founder and Chairman of AMBER Alert Europe, which will take place at the Karantanija Hall in Hotel Lev.

A press release will be issued after the conference.

Please note that access to the event is only possible with accreditation. You can apply for this event by 10 a.m., Tuesday, 31 August 2021, through the link below: Accreditation center .

Please arrive at the venue 15 minutes before the start. The meeting point will be in front of the hotel entrance, where you will receive your accreditation badges.

The Police Expert Network on Missing Persons (PEN-MP) is the first and only network of police experts in the field of missing persons in Europe. The goal of the network is to bring together experts on the issue of missing persons in Europe, with a focus on the most vulnerable groups – missing children and missing elderly people.

The Law Enforcement Working Party is a preparatory body of the Council of the European Union in the context of justice and home affairs. It handles work relating to legislative activities as well as cross-border policing and related operational issues and promotes strengthened cooperation between specialised law enforcement agencies.

AMBER Alert Europe is an international non-governmental foundation that assists in saving missing children by connecting law enforcement with other police experts and the public across Europe.