The protection of children in migration

KEY POINTS

There are increasing numbers of children in migration arriving in the EU, many of whom are unaccompanied, and in 2015 and 2016 around 30% of asylum applicants in the EU were children, with a six-fold increase in the total number of child asylum applicants in the last 6 years. Migrant children are particularly vulnerable because of their age and distance from home, especially when they are separated from their parents.

Protecting children is about enforcing EU law and respecting the Charter of Fundamental Rights and international human rights law on the rights of the child. The communication sets out action to be carried out by the Commission and EU countries with the support of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, European Asylum Support Office (EASO) and the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights.

Addressing root causes and protecting children

The Commission and the EU countries should:

• prioritise strengthening child protection systems along migratory routes, including in the context of the 2015 Valletta Summit action plan and declaration on migration;
• support partner countries in developing child protection systems and cross-border cooperation on child protection;
• support projects protecting unaccompanied children in non-EU countries along migratory routes, in particular to prevent child trafficking or smuggling;
• implement the EU Guidelines on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of the Child.

Swift and comprehensive identification and protection

EU countries are encouraged to:

• collect and exchange comparable data to facilitate responses to all cases of unaccompanied children going missing (reporting, protocols and procedures) and the verification of family links;
• collect fingerprints and biometric data² in a child-friendly and gender-sensitive way;
• ensure that a person responsible for child protection is present at an early stage in identification and at each hotspot³.

Reception in the EU

EU countries are encouraged to ensure:

• initial vulnerability and needs assessments upon arrival, and subsequent procedures, are gender- and age-sensitive;
• access to formal, inclusive education and to healthcare, psychosocial support, and other essential public services;
• alternative care options, including foster/family-based care, are available to unaccompanied children;
• child protection policies are in place in all reception facilities;
• viable alternatives to detention are available and accessible;
• effective reception monitoring;
• full use of EASO guidance on the reception of unaccompanied children;

Determining status and procedural safeguards

The Commission and EU agencies will establish a European guardianship network to develop and share good practice and update guidance on age assessment. EU countries are encouraged to:

• strengthen guardianship authorities so that guardians for all unaccompanied children are swiftly in place;
• carry out reliable, multi-disciplinary, non-invasive age assessments;
• ensure swift family tracing, within or outside the EU;
• give priority to processing cases such as asylum applications in line with the urgency principle;
• give priority to relocating unaccompanied children from Greece and Italy.

Ensuring durable solutions

EU countries are encouraged to ensure:

• access to inclusive, formal education, within a short time span after arrival, access to healthcare and other essential public services;
• support for the transition to adulthood and accessing education and training;
• social inclusion such as through mixed, non-segregated housing;
• increased resettlement in the EU for children in need of international protection;
• family tracing and reintegration measures for children who will be returned to their country of origin.

Best interests of the child and effective use of data, research, training and funding

The Commission and the EU agencies will:

• provide training, guidance and tools on best interests of the child assessments;
• discuss improvements to EU-level data collection;
• require organisations in direct contact with children to have internal child protection policies before being granted EU funding;
• disseminate good practices on protecting children in migration through an online database.

EU countries are encouraged to:

• ensure that all children are given age-appropriate information on their rights and on procedures;
• ensure training for those working with children in migration at all stages;
• prioritise children in migration under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and Internal Security Fund programmes;
• improve the collection and dissemination of good practice on the protection of children in migration.