On 2 July 2018, the Special Representative of the Secretary General on migration and refugees (SRSG) met with Simon Mordue, Deputy Director-General for Migration, DG HOME together with his team, to discuss human rights implications in the aftermath of the European Council conclusions on 28 June 2018. The discussions also included latest developments on the migration routes into Europe and EU cooperation with third countries. The Special Representative presented progress in implementation of the Council of Europe Action Plan on Protecting Refugee and Migrant Children in Europe (2017-2019) and Council of Europe´s contributions to the UN Global Compacts on refugees and migration. Other topics of discussion included alternatives to detention of migrant children and an exchange of information on recent and pending migration and asylum-related cases in the European Court of Human Rights.

On 27 June 2018, the Special Representative met with the Greek Minister for Migration Policy, Mr Dimitrios Vitsas in the sidelines of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe´s summer part-session. The aim of the meeting was to discuss the urgent situation of migrants and refugees in Greece and the necessity to base any migration management policy in Europe on the respect of the Council of Europe´s human rights standards. The meeting included a constructive discussion on how to continue following up the Special Representative´s report on Greece through concrete actions.

On 20 June 2018, on the occasion of World Refugee Day, the Special Representative expressed his views on the biggest challenges faced by refugees in Europe: “The biggest challenge is the capacity and the willingness of states to deal with mixed migration flows, which are composed of refugees and irregular migrants. And as a result, we can see that refugees are now waiting for years, very often in miserable conditions, to have their status granted”, he said. On the same day, a dedicated web page was launched to show progress in implementation of the Action Plan on Protecting Refugee and Migrant Children by the different sectors of the Council of Europe. “My priority is the refugees themselves. I want their rights to be protected, and rule of law to be respected. And I am concerned, particularly, about the situation of refugee children, the Special Representative said in a video recorded on the same occasion.

The Office of the Special Representative on migration and refugees will launch a call for good practices of migration-related procedures that are child-friendly on 23 July. The deadline for submission of good practice examples is 30 September 2018. The call is made in the context of the ongoing work to draft a compilation of good practices on migration-related child-friendly procedures, being prepared under the Council of Europe Action Plan on Protecting Refugee and Migrant Children. The first meeting of the expert group which will prepare and draft the compilation took place on 9 July 2018.