On 29 November 2016, Tomáš Boček, the Secretary General’s Special Representative on migration and refugees, attended the 10th European Forum on the Rights of the Child: the protection of children in migration, in Brussels. He participated in a plenary session on “Challenges and opportunities for the protection of children in migration”. The Forum is an annual conference organised by the European Commission. It gathers key actors from EU Member States, ombudspersons for children, international organisations, NGOs, practitioners, academics and EU institutions to discuss and promote good practice on the rights of the child.

On 9 December 2016, the Special Representative on migration and refugees chaired a session on “Migration: risks and opportunities” at a high-level conference  on “Challenges to More Sustainable and Inclusive Growth in Europe” marking the Council of Europe Development Bank’s 60th anniversary in Paris. The event brought together world-renowned economists, government officials, policymakers and academics to consider ways of ensuring that Europe’s social and economic model remains sustainable. The conference served as a platform for an exchange of views on the daunting challenges that Europe is confronted with, which include rising inequality, unemployment and the refugee crisis.

To mark International Migrants Day, the Office of the Special Representative organised a screening of the film Fire at Sea (Fuocoammare) on 15 December 2016 at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. The Italian award-winning documentary on the migration crisis is set on the island of Lampedusa, which Mr Boček visited during his fact-finding mission to Italy in October 2016.