Effective guardianship for unaccompanied and separated migrant children
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Text
adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of
the Assembly, on 4 December 2020 (see Doc. 15133, report of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and
Displaced Persons, rapporteur: Ms Rósa Björk Brynjólfsdóttir; and Doc. 15166, opinion of the Committee on Social Affairs, Health
and Sustainable Development, rapporteur: Ms Sibel Arslan).See
also Recommendation 2190
(2020).
1. Unaccompanied and separated migrant
children are among the most vulnerable individuals and, as such,
require additional protection when they arrive in Europe, often
after traumatic experiences in their countries of origin or during
their migration.
2. Referring to its
Resolution
2136 (2016) on harmonising the protection of unaccompanied
minors in Europe,
Resolution
2195 (2017) on child-friendly age assessment for unaccompanied
migrant children and
Resolution
2243 (2018) on family reunification of refugees and migrants
in the Council of Europe member States, the Parliamentary Assembly
reiterates its position that guardians play an essential role in
ensuring protection of and respect for the fundamental rights of
unaccompanied and separated migrant children.
3. The Assembly is concerned that despite ratification by all
Council of Europe member States of the United Nations Convention
on the Rights of the Child, which obliges them to protect the best
interests of all children on their territory without discrimination,
the same States do not provide effective guardianship systems to
help ensure that children’s best interests are adequately safeguarded
and duly considered in all processes and decisions concerning them.
4. Guardianship systems are not harmonised across Europe and
differ from country to country. There is a serious lack of qualified
professionals who can exercise the functions of guardians and there
are considerable delays in their appointment, in particular in the
countries which face large influxes of migrants. In some countries
one guardian is responsible for more than 20 children and there
is no regular monitoring of the guardians’ performance.
5. The Assembly stresses the key role local and regional authorities
play in providing access to child-friendly services, including guardianship,
to unaccompanied and separated migrant children and invites governments
to make sure that migrant and refugee children are integrated into
national child protection systems and that the existing procedures
facilitate the work of childcare services at the local and regional levels,
thereby enabling their timely and effective assistance and thus
providing unaccompanied and separated migrant children, regardless
of their age or status, with the same protection as children who
are citizens of the State, in line with international obligations.
6. The Assembly is convinced that in order to ensure effective
guardianship systems for unaccompanied and separated migrant children,
children’s opinions should be taken into account and special attention
paid to their individual situation, age, maturity, language and
culture.
7. The Assembly welcomes the adoption by the Committee of Ministers
of
Recommendation
CM/Rec(2019)11 on effective guardianship for unaccompanied and separated
children in the context of migration, and calls on member
States to ensure the successful implementation of this recommendation
by:
7.1 reviewing their legislation,
with a view to putting in place more effective guardianship systems
for unaccompanied and separated migrant children, in line with the
best interests of the child;
7.2 creating a Europe-wide unified database on unaccompanied
and separated migrant children to make sure that they are identified
and provided with timely protection, while taking into account the provisions
of the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard
to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (ETS No. 108);
7.3 ensuring that, on their arrival in Europe, unaccompanied
and separated migrant children are properly informed of their rights
in a form and language they can understand and that they can benefit from
free legal advice before any decision on their future is taken;
7.4 allocating the necessary financial, technical and human
resources at national and local levels to ensure that every unaccompanied
migrant child is provided with a guardian immediately on reception;
7.5 reinforcing the guardianship institutions, which must
provide clear guidance to guardians on their duties, monitor their
performance and ensure the existence of accessible complaints mechanisms
for migrant children, as well as providing guardians with the necessary
training and paying special attention to the needs of children who
have suffered from violence and trauma and those with physical and
mental health issues. Guardianship institutions must also collaborate
with qualified professionals from specialist services, as required,
in order to assess and determine the best interests of the child
and his or her needs, taking into account the child’s family situation,
health status, specific vulnerabilities, gender and ethnic and religious
background. For this purpose, it would be an advantage for professionals,
guardians and other carers to have a migrant background;
7.6 ensuring that a child-friendly and gender-sensitive approach
is taken in the preparation of professionals for guardianship, which
can be essential for guaranteeing children’s security and physical and
psychological well-being;
7.7 providing young migrants who have benefited from guardianship
protection, who have reached 18 years of age and who are in a vulnerable
situation with the necessary assistance for their transition to
adult life, by maintaining guardianship or other type of continuing
care up until the age of 21, when possible, and by reviewing their
practice of granting temporary residence permits to unaccompanied
and separated migrant children to put in place a more rights-based
and child-friendly legislation in order to fully ensure their well-being
while they are still within the jurisdiction of member States, as
reflected in the Committee of Ministers Recommendation CM/Rec(2019)4
on supporting young refugees in transition to adulthood;
7.8 ensuring effective co-operation between all relevant stakeholders
involved in the guardianship system at the national level, in order
to provide seamless protection and accompaniment during all procedures
and to complement children’s limited legal capacity by safeguarding
their best interests and taking into account their right to be heard
in processes and decisions affecting them.
8. Upon the arrival of migrant children, member States should
identify family reunification needs, work to improve cross-border
co-operation in family reunification matters and ensure that guardians
and legal representatives are trained in the procedure to be followed
at national level. The Assembly also calls on the Council of Europe
member States to study the possibility of creating a mechanism to
allow the quick and safe relocation of unaccompanied migrant children
who are not eligible for family reunification to countries with
the most developed child protection systems, taking into account
the opinions of children. For this purpose, a European register
of guardians for unaccompanied migrant children could be set up.
9. The Assembly also invites the European Union to consider earmarking
financial resources from the European Refugee Fund for the support
and implementation of guardianship systems for unaccompanied and separated
migrant children.
