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EMN Conference on Unaccompanied Minors ,
Cross-border cooperation at EU level ,
Isabela Atanasiu, European Commission, emphasised that the European Commission is not currently seeking to harmonize age assessment practices, but that invasive age assessment processes must be saved as a last resort.
Source: BAMF
In her opening speech, Isabela Atanasiu, legal officer with the Directorate-General Migration and Home Affairs of the European Commission, reported on the work of the European Union (EU) concerning unaccompanied minors. She started by presenting a few key figures. According to these figures, fewer unaccompanied minors entered the EU as asylum applicants in 2017 than in the two years previously (2017: 31,400; 2016: 63,200; 2015: 95,200). On average, however, there are still twice as many as there were in prior years. With over 10,000 asylum applicants in 2017, Italy had the highest number of applications from unaccompanied minors within the EU, before Germany (approx. 9,100) and Greece (approx. 2,500). However, there is a lack of reliable statistical data on unaccompanied minors who do not apply for asylum.
Collaboration across boarders for better protection of minor refugees
Atanasiu then went into the details of the memorandum of the European Commission to the European Parliament and the European Council from April 2017 enacted under the title “Protection of Minor Migrants” (COM(2017) 2011 final). Inter alia, the memorandum contained recommendations on how children can be protected along migration routes and on how the identity of minors can be quickly established through measures such as unified data exchange across borders and better tracking, as well as clarification of family relations. Recommendations for suitable reception and quick initiation of asylum processes as well as measures to avoid detaining children were also discussed in the document. Likewise, the memorandum also addressed the establishment of permanent solutions, focussing on inclusive school education, support in transitioning to adulthood, and social integration through mixed, non-segregated accommodations.
“National integration efforts are extremely important, since this subject is not yet fully developed on European level.“
Isabela Atanasiu
The memorandum lists measures to be taken in each of these fields by Member States according to the Commission. The Commission has since performed reviews of the implementation of the recommendations put forth in the memorandum. Monitoring carried out by the Commission mainly includes regular meetings of experts, whose results were documented in protocols available to the public. This, as well as developments and measures taken beyond what was specified in the memorandum, are also published on a website of the European Commission.
Concerning the debate on age assessment, Atanasiu emphasised that the Commission had decided against harmonizing the age assessment practices in the Member States. In the opinion of the European Commission, it makes sense for Member States to test and gather experience with different types of assessment procedures. The Commission believes that the most controversial invasive methods used in some Member States, however, should only be used as a last resort at the end of an otherwise fruitless age assessment process. Atanasiu also made reference to the practical guide for age assessment published by the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) in March 2018, which describes various methods.
Pagination
Content
- European Cooperation and Integration
- Cross-border cooperation at EU level
- Accommodation and Care Arrangements
- Deradicalisation and Prevention Work
- Adulthood – and then?
- Ressources, Time and Professionalism