Belgium marks the International day of Missing Children with the "Child Focus" coin issued in memory of all of them giving visibility to this issue. Child Focus is the common name of the European Center for Missing and Sexually Exploited Children. The organisation is active in the prevention of Missing children, Abduction of children by a parent or stranger (child stealing or kidnapping), Runaway children, and Sexually abused and exploited children. The people at Child Focus provide psychological and legal support to the victims of these events (both the children and their parents). They also follow their cases and sometimes ensure they are treated with due care by the persons in charge. Finally, they help and spread the information about missing children by publishing their pictures and descriptions in newspapers, magazines, etc.
The image of the child that appears on the coin belongs to Liam Vanden Branden, who disappeared twenty years ago when he was just two. Liam is the youngest child to have disappeared in Belgium that has not yet been found and embodies all missing children. The inner part of the coin shows the face of the child surrounded by the inscription "MISSING-DISPARU-VERMIST", "WWW.CHILDFOCUS.BE" and the trilingual indication of nationality "BELGIQUE-BELGIE-BELGIEN. The mintmark of Brussels, a helmeted head of St. Michael the Archangel, and the mark the designer are also depicted to the left and right of the face respectively.
Issue date: 25 May 2016 |
|
Diameter - 25.75mm
Thickness - 2.2mm
Weight - 8.5gr
|
| Combination of the number 2 and ** repeated six times |