Video: https://youtu.be/1g7KzxwdTOU
Ladies and gentlemen,
This year’s European Forum on the rights of the child, with a focus on migration, could not be more timely. My thanks go out to my dear colleague Vera, for organising this event on such a topical issue.
Even if we succeed in all areas of our migration policy, if we don’t succeed in protecting children, we have not succeeded at all. This is why protecting children is such a priority for us.
And the refugee crisis has put this question even higher on the political agenda. The number of migrant children arriving on our southern coasts, both in Greece and Italy, has risen in the last two years. This is why our political and operational response should be equivalent to the needs and expectations.
Already today, the protection of children is central in EU asylum and migration law. We have important guarantees for migrant children who seek international protection in Europe.
We have had an action plan on unaccompanied migrant children for several years, and we have been carefully monitoring how Member States have implemented it.
As some of you may know, this summer the Commission has proposed a far-reaching reform of the Common European Asylum System.
So what are we proposing that will benefit the needs and interests of children?
Our proposals aim to strengthen the protection of migrant children, and in particular of migrant children who arrive alone in Europe. For example, we proposed measures to guarantee that children will be accommodated in suitable facilities. Children should also have access to specialised services and to education.
Those who are victims of trauma will receive psychosocial support. Family reunification procedures for children and unaccompanied minors will be strengthened and streamlined. Our Dublin reform proposal, for example, broadens the concept of family members to include the applicant’s siblings.
Effective guardianship for unaccompanied minors is also an issue. Our proposal to upgrade asylum procedures contains several provisions that will make guardianship more effective. We want the appointment of guardians to happen promptly, respecting the pre-set deadlines.
Guardians will have to be adequately qualified and trained for their role, and they will have to have sufficient time to meet with and dedicate to each child.
The guardianship system will need to ensure monitoring and accountability mechanisms. Guardians play a specialist and crucial role within the asylum procedures, and more needs to be done to facilitate the exchange of good practice and expertise, to possibly share joint training and to work together on any cross-border cases.
We also propose that in the future, accelerated procedures and in particular detention measures may only be applied to unaccompanied minors in limited, exceptional and fully justified circumstances.
In other words: such measures should be avoided as a rule. More needs to be done as of now to ensure that alternatives to detention are available.
Likewise, improving reception conditions for unaccompanied minors in frontline Member States is an absolute priority for the Commission.
What are we doing now? The EU has already provided substantial funding through various channels in order to improve reception conditions for children in Greece and in Italy. We will continue to prioritise this in funding, with a focus on upgrading the standards and quality of care and protection.
Child protection is also present in the context of the new European Border and Coast Guard adopted in September 2016. The child’s best interests will be a primary consideration in the activities of the Agency.
Right now, we aim to support frontline Member States to ensure appropriate first line reception and assistance for unaccompanied minors, in terms of identification, reception, provision of information and referral.
You are all aware that speedy and coordinated efforts are needed to face the phenomenon of children going missing. In terms of prevention, we need to build trust in the system by ensuring appropriate reception and care including effective guardianship; by improving the quality of information given to children; and by speeding up processes and procedures linked to relocation and family reunification.
In terms of identification, our proposal to revise Eurodac includes a lowering of the minimum age for fingerprinting from 14 to 6 years old, precisely to reduce the risks of going missing.
In the absence of travel documents, fingerprinting is one of the very few options to identify a person.
We also need to ensure that children who go missing are rapidly reported to the relevant national authorities and that every effort is made to find them.
In addition, according to the relocation decisions, applications made by unaccompanied children and vulnerable persons have to be prioritised. Despite this obligation, so far very few unaccompanied and separated children have been relocated from Greece, and not a single one from Italy.
This cannot continue.
Pledges must be urgently increased and delivered on, and internal procedures on the ground must be improved to make this all happen.
Let me also say that it is not just about making sure that children’s rights are safeguarded and implemented. It is also about making sure that their vulnerabilities are not exploited, particularly in the context of the ongoing refugee crisis.
I have already mentioned the issue of children going missing. In addition, exploitation and trafficking is a serious concern. Behind every child victim of trafficking, there is not only a trafficker but also a ‘user’, or rather an ‘abuser’.
The European Commission remains firmly committed to addressing all forms of exploitation and protecting the most vulnerable, in line with the Anti-Trafficking Directive and the EU Anti-Trafficking Stategy.
Risk assessment, durable solutions, presumption of childhood, legal and psychosocial assistance, education and assistance to families are some of the key features of our legislation.
Likewise, the legislation on protecting children from sexual abuse and sexual exploitation applies to all children in the EU, no matter their status or origin. Member States should therefore ensure the effective application of that legislation to all children, including unaccompanied children who are the most vulnerable.
Our EU agencies EASO, Frontex, and Europol are supporting Italy and Greece in the identification of migrants and the provision of information to them in hotspots. They also work with police forces to help identify and prosecute smugglers and traffickers.
Moreover, it is not just about saving or protecting children; it is also about empowering them. And this is why we cannot forget about integration, both now but also in the long term.
One key policy area is education. All children, regardless of their family, religious, ethnic or cultural background or gender, have the right to access education.
Refugee children may have attended school only for short periods of time, or never, and therefore need tailored support including catch-up classes. Teachers need the necessary skills to assist them and should be supported in their work in increasingly diverse classrooms.
Early Childhood Education and Care is fundamental for the integration of migrant families and children, and to make sure that all children are given the chance to realise their potential.
Different EU funds – such as the Asylum, Migration Integration Fund, the European Social Fund and the Fund for Humanitarian Aid – are being mobilised to support Member States in improving access to education for the vulnerable, and in particular refugee children.
Outside the EU, €120m of EU funding has been allocated for 2015-2016 to regional education and protection programmes for vulnerable Syrian refugee and host community children and adolescents working through partners such as UNICEF in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.
The Facility for Refugees in Turkey, meanwhile, will support the schooling of young Syrian refugees in Turkey.
Finally, I wish to touch upon a sensitive question: the issue of return and reintegration in the country of origin. Let me say that return can only happen when it is in full respect of the primary consideration of the child’s best interests.
We need to ensure better family tracing, and where return is determined to be in the child’s best interest, appropriate assistance must be provided. The returning child must be received in the country of origin by a family member, a designated guardian or an appropriate reception facility.
The principle of non-refoulement shall be fully respected at all times. I wish to underline that children should never be left in limbo.
We need to avoid situations where children are not considered to have a right to stay in the EU, but they cannot be returned to their country of origin.
Ladies and gentlemen,
While we have many challenges ahead, we have also come a long way in recent years. We have the right foundations and the right tools to address these challenges together.
We are in a room of like-minded people: we all want to make sure children in whichever situation – and particularly those in a vulnerable situation such as the refugee crisis – get the protection they need.
The challenge is not to agree or discuss here today – the challenge is to make it happen. Many of you are involved at various political and operational levels: you can influence and you can make a change. This Forum brings an excellent opportunity to provide an effective response to these children by joining all our efforts.
Children are our future. They are the next generation.
Protecting and investing in them is not just about saving lives or about respecting fundamental rights, it is about shaping the future.