Effective protection
Refugee and migrant children must be effectively protected in accordance with the existing norms protecting their rights and their specific needs and status.
Protection includes ensuring appropriate accommodation and access to health care and social services, prompt responses to disappearances, restoring family links, and protection from trafficking, sexual abuse and other forms of violence.
The European Social Charter secures children’s rights in two ways: some of the rights have specific relevance for children and other rights are exclusively for children. The monitoring body of the Charter, the European Social Committee, state that migrant children, even in an irregular situation, have the right to housing, healthcare and social and medical assistance; Article 17 of the Charter on the right of children and young persons to social, legal and economic protections also applies to them. If irregular migrant children are not provided with these rights, they would be exposed to serious threats to their rights to life, health and psychological and physical integrity, and to the preservation of their human dignity.
The Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings requires states to create protective environments to make children less vulnerable to trafficking as well as to develop preventative measures targeting children in the most vulnerable situations as unaccompanied or separated children and irregular migrant children. Child victims of trafficking, irrespective of their migration status, should be provided with assistance within the framework of a National Referral Mechanism for trafficked children, which itself should be integrated into the general child protection system, bringing together social, health, and education services. The timely appointment of a legal guardian is essential in ensuring the protection and rehabilitation of unaccompanied children who are identified as victims of trafficking, to break the links with traffickers, and to minimise the risk of children going missing.
The Council of Europe “Lanzarote Convention” protects all children from sexual abuse and sexual exploitation, irrespective of their nationality, family or migration status in the territory of the states that ratified the convention. Children affected by migration are particularly exposed to a risk of sexual
violence, especially children who arrive unaccompanied or go missing after their arrival to Europe. For example, reception centres need to provide adequate protection for children and accommodate them separately from adults in order to avoid the risk of sexual abuse or exploitation. Staff in contact with children should be adequately trained and screened in order to give the best possible protection to migrant children.
Enhancing refugee and migrant children’s integration
The social inclusion of refugee and migrant children should be enhanced through education and training opportunities. Welcoming and inclusive societies should help refugee and migrant children grow up in a nurturing environment and provide them with support for their transition into adulthood.
Participatory work with them is vital to support their development and inclusion, and combat radicalisation.
‘Life Projects’ is an approach developed by the Council of Europe with the aim of supporting unaccompanied children to acquire and strengthen the skills necessary to become independent, responsible and active in society.2 Life projects are individual tools, based on an agreement between the unaccompanied child and the competent authorities, that define the child’s future prospects, promote their best interests without discrimination, and pursue objectives relating to their social integration, personal and cultural development.
The Council of Europe adopted a set recommendations for member states to ensure that young refugees receive additional temporary support after the age of 18 in order to enable them to access their rights, and to recognise the role of youth work in promoting better access to these rights.3 The 18th birthday of a refugee child is the end of child protection services, an abrupt and often unprepared change in accessing housing and support such as welfare, education, and health care, especially for unaccompanied or separated children lacking the support of their families.
1 UNHCR, UNICEF, and IOM, Refugee and Migrant Children – Including Unaccompanied and Separated Children- in Europe, Overview of Trends in 2016, April 2017
2 Recommendation CM/Rec(2007)9 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on life projects for unaccompanied migrant minors
3 Recommendation CM/Rec(2019)4 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on supporting young refugees in transition to adulthood