Migrant Children's Rights

Migrant Childrens Rights

Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC)

Dr Ana Beduschi (Law), was awarded an ESRC IAA Social Policy Network Award and a Project Co-Creation award in order to work with the Network for Children’s Rights to promote knowledge and expertise among charity staff working with reception and care of migrant children about the legal aspects of the protection of their human rights in Greece and in the UK.

The challenge

According to the UNHCR, more than one million refugees and migrants arrived in Europe in 2015, the majority of them via Greece by sea. Many of them were children. Given their specific vulnerability, migrant children are at high risk of trafficking, sexual exploitation, slavery or servitude, and general ill treatment.

The role of charities and NGOs in the UK and Greece is important, particularly with respect to reception and care for migration children. However, charity workers are increasingly facing challenges of legal nature in relation to issues including the regulation of detention, age assessment, and legal guardianship.

The gap between the legal requirements and the practice in the field is a matter of great concern. Raising awareness amongst charity workers and providing accurate information about the legal aspects and tools relating to the protection of migrant children is therefore an urgent matter.

What was done to help

In order to respond to the current migration crisis and to bridge the gap between legal requirements and practice, the project team undertook to develop and test training materials on the legal recognition of the vulnerability and legal rights of migrant children and its implications in practice; and to design and make openly available a toolkit, encompassing interactive and informative materials on the topic of the protection of migrant children’s rights.
An initial workshop was held in Athens, Greece which was attended by the Project team, 25 aid workers, animators, social workers and volunteers who provide services in three refugee camps in Athens, and by refugee lawyers working for the Network for Children’s Rights and for ARSIS (Greek NGO providing support for children). The aim of this work shop was to design a vulnerability check list for frontline workers and to design a procedure that determines the best interests of migrant children.

There followed a roundtable event in London where the main objective was to assess the key issues around vulnerability, adversity and trauma that migrant and refugee children are exposed to, and the ways to help building resilience and encouraging better protection. The roundtable was attended by representatives from UNICEF, Save the Children, the British Red Cross, Lumos, the Migration Policy Institute, and academics from the Universities of Exeter, Oxford, Birmingham and London.

The results

As a result of the project an interactive toolkit containing informative materials on the topic of the protection of migrant children’s rights has been developed and is now freely available.

Charity workers in Greece and in the UK have been provided with a framework on the protection of migrant children’s rights assisting them in the efficient development of their advocacy and litigation strategies.

Dr Beduschi and the project collaborators are currently planning to design and co-create a screening tool for migrant children’s vulnerabilities which would be used by frontline aid workers to inform their decision-making in relation to the children’s best interests.