UNACCOMPANIED MINoRS

INTRODUCTION

According to UNHCR, 35% of migrants entering the EU since 1 January 2016 are children. Many of them travel unaccompanied. In 2017 there were 31,800 asylum applications in the EU - 28 from unaccompanied minors. Unaccompanied minors accounted for 15% of all asylum applicants aged less than 18.

Protecting the rights of children in migration and ensuring their integration is important for cities. Not only to be compliant to the universal rights of any child, but also to prevent the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage , which increases the levels of poverty and social exclusion and undermines local social cohesion. 

In January 2016 Europol  announced that more than 10,000 refugee children have gone missing since arriving in Europe. There should be no principle discussion between local, national and European stakeholders on agreeing to set the European target to zero children in migration going missing: Europe should be a safe harbour for them

OUTCOME 1 - POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

This project aims at elaborating recommendations on actions needed at local, national and European level to better integrate unaccompanied minors, from the perspective of European cities. Based on inputs from an external expert, policy recommendations have been developed. The main recommendations are:

BRIDGE THE GAPS

We urgently need to bridge the gaps and pitfalls in our data- and monitoring systems on children in migration.

RECEPTION & ACCOMODATION

The integration of children who arrive unaccompanied to Europe and in our cities, require substantial investments. This covers reception and accommodation facilities (physical infrastructure) as well as a wide range of targeted and highly specialised services (information and communication, health services, psychosocial assistance, education, and so forth).

BETTER COOPERATION

We need better and more cooperation between all levels of public authorities and agencies to ensure the prevention of child disappearances. All professionals working with children (reception centres staff, law enforcement, immigration and asylum authorities, health professionals, carers and school personnel) should be trained in the early identification of victims of trafficking, exploitation and abuse. Law enforcement should be trained to ensure that all cases of missing migrant children trigger appropriate responses.

ADDITIONAL INVESTMENT

Additional investments should also be made to bring the exchange of know-how and good practices to a higher level in Europe, on any professional activity that may be relevant: age-assessment, guardianship, education, housing, health-support, psycho-social assistance.

FINAL DELIVERY

The mayor of Amsterdam has send the recommendations to the European Parliament, The Fundamental Rights Agency and relevant European Commissioners. The Partnership on the Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees is currently developing further with relevant stakeholders the proposal to test guardianship-arrangements is some European cities to overcome the 18- 18+ bottleneck, which proves to be a vulnerable point in the protection-structure of children in migration.

OUTCOME 2 - LOST IN MIGRATION CONFERENCE

Putting the topic of Unaccompanied Minors on the EU Agenda: Conference Lost in Migration

On 11 April 2018, the Partnership hosted a workshop at the Lost in Migration II Conference in Brussels. The conference, organised by Missing Children Europe and the Maltese President’s Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society, focused on the role of local authorities and followed an earlier edition held in 2017. It brought together NGOs, universities and research institutes, European institutions, international organisations, and policy-makers from various governmental levels. The Partnership’s workshop aimed at fostering exchange between European municipalities in addressing the needs of children in migration. Representatives from the cities of Antwerp, Ghent, Rotterdam, and Strömsund presented their approaches, policies and projects around the two workshop topics:

• Education, guardianship, psychological care and

• Reception and housing of young refugees/children in migration.

The input collected fed into the recommendations concerning the protection of children in migration.

OUTCOME 3 - CONFERENCE ON THIS TOPIC

The focus area of Unaccompanied Minors had a dedicated workshop at the Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees Conference.

The workshop discussed the recommendations for local and central levels as well as DG REGIO of the European Commission presented how they have advanced in the work on segregation. The second part of the workshop discussed; the recommendations for the European level, the next steps to implementation and elaborated on the strategies to communicate them to the different stakeholders and decision-makers at all levels of government. Among other questions, the following topics were discussed: 

• Which are the main gaps with respect to migrant children protection at the local level?  

• What can cities do, considering their competences (funding, regulation and knowledge  exchange), to improve the integration of migrant children at the local level?  

• Which are the main gaps with respect to migrant children protection at the national level?  

• What are the main challenges and gaps at the EU level in order to better protect children in migration? 

OUTCOME 4 - CONFERENCE ON THIS TOPIC

AMIF Annual Work Programme 2019: Protection of Children in Migration 

The protection of Children in migration will one of the priorities of the call for proposals under the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund in 2019. Even though it is possible in several Member States to provide children alternatives to detention, in practice these alternatives are either not used or used in a limited way. In April 2017 The European Commission communicated that EU funding must contribute to the protection of children in migration. Alternative care systems, including family-based care, foster care, and supervised independent living arrangements, have expanded in recent years in the EU, and the access of migrant children to such forms of care should be prioritised. Activities that can be funded by the EU include exchange of good practices, logistic support for the implementation, expansion and improvement of alternative care systems for migrant children and projects aimed to facilitate the integration of migrant children in the host communities.