Our Vision

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Always a Child: A vision on how to fulfil the rights of children in migration

A wide range of child rights actors are calling on the EU, its Member States and stakeholders to ensure the rights of all children in migration are fulfilled.

This involves putting in place a comprehensive rights-based approach  which :

This statement sets out our vision of what a comprehensive and rights-based approach to all children in migration actually means. 

When you think comprehensive, think “all”: all children, all aspects of their situation, all actions, all actors. When you think rights- based, think of obligations to children, not of discretionary welfare interventions.

The Initiative invites organisations working with children in migration to promote this vision and its recommendations.Using the vision will help make our collective advocacy more effective through consistent calls for action at different levels, locally, nationally and at European level.

The vision will support joint advocacy in your country with stakeholders from different interests or backgrounds (including child rights organisations, migration organisations, human rights organisations, youth networks, social welfare organisations).

Respects, Protects And Fulfils All Children In Migration Without Any Discrimination

Image: ©Dani Oshi

Image: ©Dani Oshi

 

Children’s rights, in particular as set out in the CRC, apply equally to all children, without any discrimination on the basis of their migration, residence or citizenship status, as well as other grounds (age, nationality, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, etc.). This means that:

  • EU and national policies should seek to fulfil the rights of all children in migration, regardless of their status, or the status of their parent(s) or primary caregiver(s), and without discrimination.

  • Migration policies should identify and address the specific rights and needs of children, including when they are in families/accompanied. Children are often barely visible in migration policy or treated only as part of an adult family member’s situation.

  • Child rights and other public policies should fulfil the rights of children in migration, alongside those of national children. Children in migration should be equally covered by general measures concerning national children, such as access to health and education services, birth registration and child protection systems.

  • Specific rights and needs, rather than their status, should be the starting point of all actions regarding children. Where children in migration have particular needs and require support, they should be treated in the same way as national children with the same needs, e.g. alternative care services should be available to all children without parental care. Specific needs should also be catered for through targeted services.

All aspects of the situation of children in migration, at every stage of migration, should be addressed, in full respect of their rights.

This means that:

  • Procedural safeguards, including access to child-friendly information adapted to the child's age and level of maturity, free, quality legal assistance and representation and effective remedies, should be in place to ensure children’s rights are fulfilled across all of the different procedures in which they are concerned, and children should be empowered, supported and assisted to access and participate in judicial and administrative processes.This includes special safeguards for unaccompanied and separated children, including guardianship and appropriate age assessment processes.

  • Children in migration should have the right to appropriate and quality care, housing and services, without discrimination and with necessary firewalls from migration control measures.

  • Durable solutions should be identified and implemented for all children in migration, having their best interests as a primary consideration. This includes clear and accessible status determination and durable solution procedures, including pathways to secure residence status or to transfer to another country, where this is in their best interests.

  • Cross border cooperation between EU Member States should be strengthened to address situations where children in migration are of concern to more than one country, including family tracing and reunification, relocation, transnational child protection, allocation of responsibility for examining an asylum application, disappearances and trafficking.

  • Cooperation between EU and third countries on development and migration policies should uphold the rights of children in migration.

 

Addresses All Their Rights, And All Aspects Of Their Situation

Image: ©Dani Oshi

Image: ©Dani Oshi

Takes Account Of Children In All Actions, Throughout All Policy Areas And Stages Of Policy-Making

Image: ©Dani Oshi

Image: ©Dani Oshi

 

Children’s rights should be systematically considered and addressed across all the different laws and policies that affect them. Policy makers should take stock of how children in migration are affected by different policies and actions, and ensure that their rights are respected, protected, and as far as possible fulfilled.

  • The rights of children in migration should be addressed in all relevant EU and national laws and policies. These include policies on migration (admission channels and immigration procedures, border control, return, (re)integration, cooperation with third countries), international protection, nationality laws (legal safeguards to prevent childhood statelessness), anti-trafficking, education, health, social, youth and children’s rights policies, amongst others. This should be facilitated through institutional structures, and systematic and timely processes that foster consultation of, and coordination between, stakeholders, as well as accountability.

  • Children in migration should be taken into account across the whole process of taking action: from drafting and development of laws, programmes, policy and guidelines, to implementation, allocation of resources, monitoring and evaluation.

  • Dedicated resources should be in place to tackle issues affecting all children in migration through specific budgetary commitments and promoting better accountability in the use of funds for fulfilling the rights of children, including use of EU funds to support national implementation.

  • Available tools at EU level, including mechanisms for monitoring, evaluation and infringement proceedings should be used effectively to ensure compliance with child rights obligations by all EU member states and to facilitate access to justice where needed.

  • Child participation should be promoted. Children in migration should have a voice in contributing to policies and actions in their regard and in participating in all decisions affecting them; they should be informed, supported, empowered and engaged, with due account being taken of their views.

Many different actors work with children in migration, including a range of public bodies and agencies, IGOs, NGOs, children and youth led organizations, professionals, private companies and the voluntary sector. Inter-agency and multidisciplinary approaches are critical to achieving effective responses to the situation of children.

EU and national measures need to properly involve all actors working with children at regional, national, local and municipal level. This means that the development and implementation of EU and national measures concerning children in migration should involve not only migration actors, but also child protection and welfare actors and children in migration themselves. The latter should have primary responsibility for the reception and care of children in migration, within the general national child protection system applying to all children in the State.

EU and national actions should support effective collective action of relevant stakeholders, for example, to ensure proper case management, carry out multi-disciplinary individual needs’ assessments and to identify and implement durable solutions.

EU and national action should resource training to equip professionals working with children in migration and support them to work together to fulfil children’s rights (e.g. funding for guides, training, learning exchanges, monitoring etc.).

 

Involves All Actors

Image: ©Dani Oshi

Image: ©Dani Oshi

This vision sets out what we mean by a comprehensive and rights-based approach to all children in migration. When you think comprehensive, think “all”: all children, all aspects of their situation, all actions, all actors. When you think rights- based, think of obligations to children, not of discretionary welfare interventions.