By focusing on human rights and the legal and geopolitical contexts of migration and asylum, the 16th Warsaw Human Rights Seminar, organised by Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, continued its long-standing tradition of fostering high-level dialogue on Europe’s most pressing human rights issues.

Taking part in a panel entitled “Protecting Specific Categories and Groups of Persons in Migration and Asylum,” Nikolaos Sitaropoulos, Head of the Division of Migration and Refugees (DMR), presented an overview of the Council of Europe’s standards relating to persons in vulnerable situations, notably migrant children, women and girls. He highlighted the Council of Europe Action Plan on Protecting Vulnerable Persons in the Context of Migration and Asylum in Europe (2021–2025) which has provided a comprehensive framework to enhance member States’ capacity to identify and address vulnerabilities in migration and asylum procedures and enriched the Council of Europe with instruments such as the Committee of Ministers Recommendations CM/Rec(2022)22 on human rights principles and guidelines on age assessment in the context of migration and CM/Rec(2022)17 on protecting the rights of migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking women and girls.

Significant action has also been taken by the Council of Europe to assist displaced Ukrainian children, notably through the Council of Europe Consultation Group on the Children of Ukraine (CGU) which has provided a peer-review platform and rapid response mechanism, allowing member States to address the most urgent legal and policy challenges related to the children of Ukraine. Reference was also made to the DMR’s recent recent publication Vulnerability of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees: Council of Europe and European Union standards which aims to assist member States in further aligning their laws and practices with European human rights standards in this area.