The European Commission presented a raft of measures on Wednesday 12 April that seek to strengthen the protection of unaccompanied minors, after it highlighted, in 2016, that one asylum seeker in three is a child. The measures were set out in a communication with the objective of enhancing protection at all stages of the process and preventing situations arising where children may be abused or exploited or where they quite simply disappear, as Europol highlighted at the start of the year. More than 10,000 minors are believed to have disappeared since the 2015 surge of arrivals.
Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova stressed at a conference that, on the basis of evidence from NGOs, the journey to Europe is traumatic for children and, once they have arrived in the EU, their lives can also traumatise them. This may help to explain why “they sometimes refuse to allow their fingerprints to be taken”, fearing that “they’re going to be put in jail”. Disappearances of children usually occur in the first 48 hours after their arrival.
The Commission wants to give children assurances that they will be protected from the moment they arrive in the EU. It suggests that guardians be appointed as soon as the children arrive and that the children must be identified quickly. It should also be possible for the children to be integrated swiftly into society. “Trained personnel need to be available to assist children during their status determination and children should be provided with sustainable long-term perspectives through better access to education and health care”, the Commission states.
The communication sets out a range of priorities such as swift identification and protection upon arrival. “A person responsible for child protection should be present at an early stage of the registration phase and in all reception facilities hosting children and child protection officers should be appointed in each hotspot.”
Member states should put in place the necessary procedures to systematically report and exchange information on all missing children. All children need to have access to legal assistance, healthcare, psycho-social support and education without delay, regardless of their status. Unaccompanied minors should also have the possibility of foster or family-based care. The role of guardians for unaccompanied minors should be strengthened.
Concerted efforts should also be made to speed up family tracing and family reunification procedures, within or outside the EU. Member states are called upon to step up resettlement of children in need of protection and to ensure that family tracing and reintegration measures are put in place for those children who are to be returned.
The Commission also says that it wants to be involved earlier and, ultimately, prevent young people from coming to the EU. “Further efforts are needed to support partner countries in strengthening national child protection systems and in preventing child trafficking.”
The administrative detention of children in member states, a highly sensitive issue which is not outlawed but which has negative consequences for the children, must, Commissioner Jourova said, remain a last resort and “everything must be done to provide alternatives”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)