Missing child’s face on EUR 2 coin

Child Focus has launched a special EUR 2 coin in Belgium, which is the first coin to feature an URL, and raises awareness of missing children across Europe.

We’ve previously covered a Canada-based initiative that printed the faces of missing children on stamps, and now in Belgium, Child Focus is using a similar approach on the EUR 2 gold coin.

In collaboration with the Belgian Royal Mint, Child Focus minted of over a million special EUR 2 coins bearing the picture of Liam Vanden Branden, who disappeared 20 years ago at the age of two. He is the youngest child at the time of disappearance still registered as missing in Belgium. It features the first ever URL to be etched on a coin, which links to the Child Focus website. The coins, launched in general circulation on May 25th — international Missing Children’s Day — are also associated with the hashtag #CoinsofHope, so that awareness of missing children is spread across European social media alongside coin exchanges. The coins can be purchased at an additional charge from the Belgian Royal Mint.

In Brazil, a campaign saw printers automatically produce posters of missing persons in surrounding homes. How else could standard everyday systems be used to help find missing persons?