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Children in Migration
Survey
Supporting the identification of better informed durable solutions for children through childspecific information on the...
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Identification
1. Name of the project/practice
Supporting the identification of better informed durable solutions for children through childspecific information on their countries of origin
2. Name of submitting person/organisation/practitioner
UNICEF
3. Role of the submitting person/organisation/practitioner in the good practice
4. Type of organisations implementing the practice
Academia/University
National authority
Regional authority
Local authority
Non-governmental organisation
International organisation
Private organisation
Private person
Other type of organisation
4.1. Please specify type of organisation if different than the options above
5. Description of the lead organisation
UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child. UNICEF was created with a distinct purpose in mind: to work with others to overcome the obstacles that poverty, violence, disease and discrimination place in a child’s path. In all of its work, UNICEF takes a life-cycle based approach, recognizing the particular importance of early childhood development and adolescence. UNICEF programmes focus on the most disadvantaged children, including those living in fragile contexts, those with disabilities, those who are affected by rapid urbanization and those affected by environmental degradation and migration. UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia works with and for disadvantaged children and adolescents in 21 countries and territories across Europe and Central Asia. UNICEF's ambition is to get the entire region working together - as one - on behalf of its most vulnerable children.
6. Name and description of partner organisations
Scope and activities
7. Type of activity
Capacity-building and training of duty-bearers (national, regional, local authorities, others involved in delivery of services) to respect rights
Services delivered directly to children (including on access to their rights) (e.g. child-sensitive information, support services, clinics (mobile or other), reception, transnational cooperation, etc.
Promoting rights-based responses and actions (e.g. advocacy, working with communities, implementing standards)
Community engagement (e.g. local volunteers or outreach, inclusion, neighborhood initiatives)
Other type of activity
7.1. Please describe other type of activity (if the type of activity is not listed above)
8. Sector
Immediate protection needs on arrival / humanitarian relief (e.g. individual needs assessment)
Identification and registration (e.g. child-friendly biometric enrollment, measures to prevent and to respond to unaccompanied children going missing, age assessment procedures)
Reception: accommodation (e.g. reception related measures to promote and respond to children going missing, foster care, semi-independent living, housing for families, different forms of alternative care for unaccompanied children)
Reception: access to services (educational support, access to health care, assistance to newborns or toddlers, psychosocial support, leisure, integration-related measures)
Access to status determination procedures/procedural safeguards (guardianship services, multidisciplinary age assessment, family reunification/unity, family-tracing, prioritisation of children’s status determination procedures (urgency principle), legal assistance, child-sensitive information)
Prevention of deprivation of liberty (General Comment No 23 UNCRC) / non-custodial solutions
Durable solutions (best interests determination, integration, return, resettlement or reunification with family in a third country)
Other sector
8.1. Please describe other sector (if the sector is not listed above)
9. Target group of children in migration
All children
Unaccompanied or separated children
Children in families
Children with disabilities
LGBTQI children
Children seeking international protection
Teenagers close to adulthood
Child victims of trafficking
Child victims of violence
Child victims of sexual violence
Other target group of children in migration
9.1. Other target group of children in migration (if the target group is not listed above)
10. Specific target of the practice
Boys
Girls
All children
11. Target group based on age
0-18 years
0-3 years
4-6 years
7-12 years
13-18 years
Other age group
11.1. Please specify the age group
12. Keywords to describe the good practice
Age assessment
Capacity-building
Child-sensitive information
Children with families
Data collection
Dublin
Education
Non-custodial solutions
Family reunification
Family-tracing
Foster care
Guardian
Guardianship
Healthcare
Humanitarian relief
Identification
Integration
Leisure
Local community
Psychosocial support
Reception
Semi-independent living
Sport
Training
Trauma-informed practice
Unaccompanied children
13. Time frame
13.1. Start date of activity
Date
13.2. End date of activity
Date
14. Geographical scope
EU
Albania
Austria
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Kosovo
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Montenegro
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
14.1. Other geographical scope
15. Region, municipality or locality concerned
16. General description of activities
With EU funding, UNICEF National Committees in Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden worked with partners to develop child-specific country of origin reports (Child Notices5) between 2013 and 2016. Working closely with national authorities in all three countries, as well as the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) and key stakeholders, including IGOs and NGOs, UNICEF identified the key information on the living conditions of children that should be available to immigration authorities, legal guardians, mentors, lawyers and judges, as well as a methodology for its compilation. The project also piloted the methodology by compiling and publishing Child Notices for Afghanistan, Albania, Guinea, Morocco, Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia. Any increase in return decisions for unaccompanied children – or indeed children in families – in EU member states is likely to increase the judicial scrutiny of the basis for any decisions, adding to the pressure on national authorities and actors that support children to ensure that they have reliable and specific information on countries of return. The Child Notices, and their underlying methodology, are one way to achieve this, and have the potential to become common resources for EU Member States. They offer a solid example of the successful deployment of EU funding to develop an important methodology and pilot tools, using a regional approach based on collaboration across key stakeholders, EU agencies and national authorities.
17. Objectives of the activities
The activity aimed at compiling in one place key information on the situation of children in countries of origin of refugee and migrant children in Europe, in order to inform policy and decision making by national migration and asylum authorities, including with regards to return decisions and their implementation.
18. Results
The Notices bring together in one place detailed legal and practical information on issues such as access (or potential refusal of access) to education and health care, the system of care provided by governments to unaccompanied children, the situation of children in armed conflict, the juvenile justice system and the risks of trafficking. They also include information on the availability of child protection services in a country, including how the child protection system is funded and monitored, the organizations working on child protection and where services are available (for example, throughout the country or only in the capital city). This helps authorities understand whether essential safety nets are in place for UASC, given their particularly vulnerable situations, through available social services in the country of return. The Child Notices provide valuable tools that demonstrate the legal provisions and safeguards that should be in place to inform decisions on durable solutions for children.
19. Challenges
Authorities and actors working with children in migration often lack proper information on the situation of children in their countries of origin to inform international protection or immigration procedures, when States need to identify durable solutions for these children. Such information is essential to determine whether there are child-specific forms of persecution and whether it is in the best interests of the child to stay in the host country or return to their country of origin. When implementing the return of children, it is also important to have legal and practical information from authorities in the country of return to provide assurance that necessary services are in fact available to children. At present, however, detailed information on the situation of children is rarely available in the country of origin reports (COI) that are often used by national authorities to determine whether a migrant child would be in danger in their own country.
20. Lessons learned
The need, and means, to understand conditions for children in their countries of origin has been recognized and can be achieved through Child Notices as well as through the involvement of child protection authorities to assess the best interests of the children and find sustainable solutions for them.
Additional Information
21. Funding
Funded by national authorities
Funded by the organisation in charge of the implementation
Funded by regional authorities
Funded by local authorities
Funded by private donor or charity
Other funding
21.1. Please specify other funding:
22. Funded by EU Programme
- None -
Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF)
Development Cooperation Instrument
Emergency Assistance Scheme under the AMIF/ISF (EMAS)
Emergency Support Instrument (ESI)
Erasmus+
EU Compact with Jordan
EU Compact with Lebanon
EU Health Programme
EU Humanitarian Assistance
EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis
EU Trust Fund for Africa
European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD)
European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights
European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
European Social Fund (ESF)
Facility for Refugees in Turkey
Fund for Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD)
Horizon 2020
Internal Security Fund (ISF)
Mobility Partnership Facility
Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme
23. Approximate costs per year
24. Currency
EUR - Euro
RON - Romanian Leu
SEK - Swedish Kroner
PLN - Polish Zloty
NOK - Norwegian Kroner
HUF - Hungarian Forint
ISK - Icelandic Kroner
LTL - Lithuanian Litas
DKK - Danish Kroner
CZK - Czech Crown
BGN - Bulgarian Lev
GBP - British Pound
HRK - Croatian Kuna
25. Costs per objective or per work package
26. Other relevant information on budget and costs
27. Formal evaluation
28. Child safeguarding policy
29. Child safeguarding policy link
30. Child safeguarding policy document
31. Link to good practice / organisations' website
32. Relevant documents for good practice/organisation
33. Is there any extra information you want to provide not already covered in the replies to the questions above?
Contact Information
34. You can add up to five contacts
1
2
3
4
5
34.1.1. Name
UNICEF ECАRO
34.1.2. Phone
+41 22 909 5111
34.1.3. Email
ecaro@unicef.org
34.2.1. Name
34.2.2. Phone
34.2.3. Email
34.3.1. Name
34.3.2. Phone
34.3.3. Email
34.4.1. Name
34.4.2. Phone
34.4.3. Email
34.5.1. Name
34.5.2. Phone
34.5.3. Email
UNICEF
Leave this field blank