At least 50 children were kidnapped by a parent during the summer holidays and either taken from or brought to the Netherlands, the national monitor IKO said on Friday.

All but 48 of the children are still missing, the IKO said. In total, 37 children were taken illegally from the Netherlands and 13 were brought here. Mothers were involved in 60% of the kidnappings and most of the children – 43 out of 50 – were under the age of 13.

By law in the Netherlands, divorced or separated couples have to have the permission of the other parent to take a child abroad.

Last year in total 224 children were illegally taken abroad. The mother was responsible in 75% of those cases.