EMN study presented in the Council of Europe , Date: 2019.04.17, format: Report, area: Authority

People are sitting in a conference room. Source: Federal Office | Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

The German Contact Point of the European Migration Network (EMN) was invited by the Committee on Migration and Refugees of the Parliamentary Assembly to report on findings on the disappearance of unaccompanied minors.

The studies of the EMN provide objective, reliable and comparable information on migration-related topics. They thus form an important source of information for the public as well as for political institutions and decision-makers. This also applies to parliamentary work at the international level, where the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe invited the German National Contact Point of the European Migration Network to present the results of the EMN study on unaccompanied minors in Germany published in 2018.

The Committee is currently preparing a report on the disappearance of unaccompanied minors. Among other things, the report will focus on the implementation of international standards and the use of databases that make it possible to find missing minors quickly or prevent their disappearance. The Committee was therefore interested in knowing how the disappearance of unaccompanied minors is dealt with in Germany.

"Political work – whether in government, in parliaments or by civil society - needs reliable information. The studies of the EMN summarise the most important legal regulations and empirical findings on topics, and they are comparable across the EU", says Paula Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik, co-author of the study "Unaccompanied minors in Germany". She presented the main findings of the study to the Council of Europe. This includes the fact that there is currently no comprehensive and reliable data on missing unaccompanied minors. The database of the Federal Criminal Police Office (see "Links") can show tendencies. Often, however, the database does not record when unaccompanied minors are found again and multiple counts occur as well, for example if no identity documents are available or a name is spelled differently.

Her presentation also dealt with the procedure of reception centres and youth welfare offices when children and young people disappear from youth welfare institutions. The possible reasons for the disappearance are very different:

  • Unaccompanied minors often leave institutions in order to reach family members elsewhere in Germany or in EU Member States.
  • Other reasons may be conflicts in the institution or dissatisfaction with the allocation in the distribution process.
  • Furthermore, it cannot be ruled out that missing unaccompanied minors may become victims of criminal exploitation or human trafficking.

Graph showing the development of the number of missing and reappeared unaccompanied minors in Germany (from 2015 to 2018) Development of the number of missing and reappeared unaccompanied minors in Germany since 2015. In 2018, the number of missing UAM represented 3.4 per cent of the total number of missing persons in Germany. auf die Gesamtzahl aller vermissten Personen in Deutschland aus. Source: File "Missing persons / Unknown deaths" of the BKA. The figures from the database can only represent a trend, as there are both under- and over-captures.

In the ensuing discussion, parliamentarians had the opportunity to ask questions about the available data, international cooperation in this area and support for unaccompanied minors beyond the age of majority.

The study presented was written by Julian Tangermann and Paula Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik as part of their work for the European Migration Network and was published in May 2018. It can be downloaded via the link in the right-hand column. The EU-wide synthesis report, which summarises the results of 26 national studies, is also available in the right-hand column.

Already on the 4th of April a further cooperation event took place by the Council of Europe, the European Commission and the EMN. At a jointly organized international conference on Effective Alternatives to the Detention of Migrants in Strasbourg some 200 participants discussed a variety of concrete examples and practices of alternatives to the detention of migrants from different corners of Europe (see "Links").

More information on the work of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is available on the Committee's website (see "Links").