22/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - The single European hotline number for missing children - 116000 - is now on track, said MEP Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou (EPP-ED, Greece). Ms Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou is the rapporteur to the women's rights committee on a “European Strategy on the Rights of the Child” and president of the Intergroup on “Family and Protection of Childhood”. “The implementation of the '116 initiative' for reporting missing children is only a first step towards pan-European awareness of the protection of children's rights,” she said on 21 February. A public appeal will shortly be launched to identify other services which could be allocated a number beginning with 116. (bc)