Retour Council of Europe´s 47 member states agreed on an Action Plan on Protecting Vulnerable Persons in the Context of Migration and Asylum in Europe

Council of Europe´s 47 member states agreed on an Action Plan on Protecting Vulnerable Persons in the Context of Migration and Asylum in Europe

On 5 MAY 2021, the Council of Europe´s Committee of Ministers adopted an Action Plan on Protecting Vulnerable Persons in the Context of Migration and Asylum in Europe (2021-2025). “Migrants and asylum seekers face particular challenges, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, notably access to healthcare and vaccinations. We are increasing cooperation among member states to protect the most vulnerable persons”, said Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić.

The action plan aims at addressing main challenges and opportunities identified since the previous Action Plan, focusing on children, which was completed in 2019. The lessons learned, through discussions with member states and within the Council of Europe, revealed the need for further action and co-ordination in a wider scope. The European Court of Human Rights as well as Council of Europe steering committees and monitoring bodies have emphasised the special protection that states need to provide to vulnerable persons in the context of asylum and migration. In the new action plan, “vulnerable persons in the context of migration and asylum” are persons found to have special needs after individual evaluation of their situation and who are entitled to call on states’ obligations to provide them with special protection and assistance.

“This action plan proposes a targeted assistance package for the Council of Europe member states to enhance their capacity to identify and address vulnerabilities throughout the asylum and migration procedures linked to adequate reception conditions, access to information, legal aid and justice. It also promotes the support for child refugees in their access to education and young refugees in their transition to adulthood,” said the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Migration and Refugees, Ambassador Drahoslav Štefánek.

On 25 May 2021, in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Special Representative participated in the launch event of the first ever regional HELP online course on “Refugee and Migrant Children” in the Western Balkans, organised in co-operation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the EU´s European Asylum Support Office (EASO), hosted by the Council of Europe Office in Sarajevo. As the movement of persons across the Mediterranean and into Europe continues, the precarious situation in which refugee and migrant children find themselves in, as well as the risk of human rights violations, persist. The Special Representative stressed that this HELP course “reflects the principle that in the context of migration, like everywhere else, children should be treated, first and foremost, as children”. Ambassador Štefánek recalled that “children on the move remain one of the most vulnerable groups in Europe today, which is reflected in the new Council of Europe Action Plan on Protecting Vulnerable Persons in the Context of Migration and Asylum in Europe (2021-2025), adopted on 5 May 2021”.

During his visit in Sarajevo, the Special Representative also held bilateral meetings as follow-up to his visit in January 2021. He met, among others, with Selmo Cikotić, Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Director of the Service for Foreigners' Affairs, Slobodan Ujic, and Laura Lungarotti, the IOM Chief of Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sub Coordinator in the Western Balkans.

He also participated in the launch of the updated UNHCR/HELP course on Asylum and Human Rights for EU legal professionals, and delivered a speech on Human Rights of Migrants at a webinar organised by the Délégation des Barreaux de France auprès des institutions européennes.

SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE ON MIGRATION AND REFUGEES
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