Opening remarks
Video: https://youtu.be/4NVauepbXBw
Honourable members,
Thank you for scheduling this very timely debate.
Let me assure you that the protection of children in the context of migration and the current refugee crisis is central in our overall migration policy – both, for their short-term, as well as long-term needs.
The Commission announced in its Communication of 10 February 2016 a comprehensive approach to the protection of all children in migration, including unaccompanied children.
These actions are geared towards strengthening child protection systems in the Member States and are now being implemented.
The Commission will also evaluate and report by the end of this year on the implementation of the 2010-2014 Action Plan on Unaccompanied Minors.
All our efforts are concerted to address the complex and urgent issues that need to be resolved, to ensure an adequate protection of migrant children arriving in Europe.
Member States must ensure that they are capable of respecting the rights and meeting the needs of children in migration, and addressing several gaps.
These gaps include:
– providing adequate reception conditions, including psycho-social care,
– prevention of children going missing, and ensuring adequate responses in case they do
– effective guardianship,
– access to information,
– access to legal counsel and assistance and other procedural safeguards and procedures, such as Dublin transfers and family reunification, the use of arbitrary administrative detention, and inappropriate detention conditions.
And let me remind that detention is never the objective , but can only be a last resort.
The Commission is acting to address all these gaps.
The recent legislative proposals to reform the Common European Asylum System, include stronger provisions on the protection and care and procedural safeguards for children.
These new proposals aim at strengthening the protection of children, including those who are unaccompanied.
They address key areas such as: ensuring adequate reception conditions; ensuring access to specialised services and education for migrant children;ensuring psycho-social support for victims of trauma; and speeding up family reunification procedures, amongst others.
Nevertheless, more needs to be done to ensure that alternatives to detention are available and used, and to ensure the expansion of family-based care, such as foster care for unaccompanied children.
With regard to family reunification, our Dublin proposal provides for clear and precise rules, and will enhance the efficiency of the system significantly, without compromising any essential safeguards.
The procedures will be shorter and current shifts of responsibility between Member States will no longer be possible. It also broadens the concept of family members to include the applicant’s siblings.
One of the main gaps has been on effective guardianship, where we have seen long delays in appointment and guardians being assigned unworkable caseloads of up to 1000 children.
Our asylum reform proposals address this issue.
I count on your support and that of the Member States to agree on these reforms, so we can ensure these safeguards in reality as soon as possible.
In addition, the recent Action Plan on Integration Actions addresses education for children in migration.
For children in reception centres, our asylum reform proposals aim at further strengthening a child’s right to access to education, also if they are in detention.
Under the Emergency Support Instrument, targeted funding is allocated to additional education activities for children.
Outside the EU, EU funding has been made available to programmes for vulnerable Syrian refugee and host community children and adolescents.
According to the Council Decisions on relocation, applications made by unaccompanied children and vulnerable persons shall be prioritised.
Despite this, so far very few unaccompanied children have been relocated from Greece, and very few Member States have made places available for them.
To date, no children have been relocated from Italy.
In our recent report, we have also raised this issue.
As you know, the Commission is monitoring the situation in Greece and Italy very closely, and is in continuous dialogue with Member States, urging them to make pledges to relocate unaccompanied children.
Finally, to foster a discussion between those working in asylum and migration and those working in child protection, the Commission is dedicating the 10th European Forum on the rights of the child on 29 and 30 November 2016 to the protection of children in migration, where there will also be a dedicated side-meeting on guardianship of unaccompanied children.
Honourable members,
As I said in the beginning, protecting the most vulnerable in this refugee crisis – and those are indeed children – is of paramount importance to the Commission.
But it takes many more stakeholders and actors involved to make this happen. The Commission counts on the European Parliament as its partner on this.
I would like to close by saying: this is not an issue that should in fact be debated. It is an issue that should simply be addressed, urgently and jointly.
Closing remarks
Video: https://youtu.be/ngetdcGa31g
Honourable members,
Thank you for your interventions.
It only confirms how important the issue is for you too – and I am glad we share this determination.
As you know, the Commission is employing a comprehensive approach to the protection of all children in migration, including unaccompanied children.
Actions announced in February are being implemented, and new actions have been, and will continue to be identified as part of an ongoing process.
We are now working to complete the implementation of the Action Plan on Unaccompanied Minors (2010-2014), and will evaluate and report on this by the end of the year.
Let me reiterate that the Commission is committed to improve – and acting on this commitment – the situation of unaccompanied minors on the ground: operationally, but also legally, through our proposed reforms.
Right now in Greece and Italy, we are offering financial and logistical support for improving the reception conditions for the children, support to relocate unaccompanied children from Greece and Italy to other Member States, and we are monitoring compliance with EU law in terms of the reception conditions and standards offered to minors, as well as with the procedural safeguards stipulated for the benefit of children.
Our asylum reform is aimed at improving the conditions and protection safeguards for children – not lowering their standards.
I count on the European Parliament to support our proposals in the upcoming negotiations with the Member States.
Our debate today proves what I said earlier: we are not debating or questioning the issue of protection of migrant children.
We agree on its necessity and urgency to act.
Thank you.