Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on The situation of unaccompanied minors in the migration process — the role and suggestions of regional and local authorities
Date: 2006-10-12
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: foreign national, integration of migrants, local authority, migration policy, migratory movement, regional authority, young person

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Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on The situation of unaccompanied minors in the migra-
tion process — the role and suggestions of regional and local authorities

(2007/C 51/07)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

Having regard to the decision of its Bureau of 25 April 2006, under the fifth paragraph of Article 265 of
the Treaty establishing the European Community, to instruct its Commission for Constitutional Affairs, Euro-
pean Governance and the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice to draw up an opinion on this subject;

Having regard to its opinion (CdR 241/2004 fin) on the Green Paper — equality and non-discrimination in
an enlarged European Union, COM(2004) 379 final;

Having regard to its opinion (CdR 337/2004 fin) on the Communication from the Commission to the
Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the
Regions — Study on the links between legal and illegal migration, COM(2004) 412 final;

Having regard to its opinion (CdR 80/2005 fin) on the Communication from the Commission on the Social
Agenda, COM(2005) 33 final;

Having regard to its opinion (CdR 144/2005 fin) on the Communication from the Commission to the Council
and to the European Parliament establishing a framework programme on Solidarity and the Management of Migration
Flows for the period 2007-2013, COM(2005) 123 final;

Having regard to its opinion (CdR 51/2006) on the Communication on A Common Agenda for Integration
— Framework for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals in the European Union, COM(2005) 389 final, on
the Communication on Migration and Development: Some concrete orientations, COM(2005) 390 final, and on
the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on common standards and procedures in
Member States for returning illegally staying third-country nationals, COM(2005) 391 final;

Having regard to the Communication from the Commission on The local and regional dimension of the area
of freedom, security and justice, COM(2002) 738 final;

Having regard to the Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament
on the managed entry in the EU of persons in need of international protection and the enhancement of the
protection capacity of the regions of origin — improving access to durable solutions, COM(2004) 410 final;

Having regard to EC Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2004 on Minimum standards for the qualifi-
cation and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need interna-
tional protection and the content of the protection granted;

Having regard to Council Directive 2004/81/EC of 29 April 2004 on the residence permit issued to third-
country nationals who are victims of trafficking in human beings or who have been the subject of an action
to facilitate illegal immigration, who cooperate with the competent authorities;

Having regard to the Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and the Council establishing the
External Borders Fund for the period 2007-2013 as part of the General programme Solidarity and manage-
ment of migration flows, 2005/0047 (COD);

Having regard to the Proposal for a Council Decision establishing the European Fund for the Integration of
Third-country Nationals for the period 2007-2013 as part of the General programme Solidarity and manage-
ment of migration flows, 2005/0048 (CNS);

Having regard to the Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and Council establishing the
European Return Fund for the period 2008-2013 as part of the General programme Solidarity and manage-
ment of migration flows, 2005/0049 (COD);

Having regard to the draft opinion (CdR 136/2006) adopted on 30 June 2006 by the CONST commission
(rapporteur: Mr Fontanelli, Mayor of Pisa (IT/PES);

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Whereas:

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

Unaccompanied minors, according to the Council of Europe Resolution of 26 June 1997, are ‘third-
country nationals below the age of eighteen, who arrive on the territory of the Member States unaccompanied
by an adult responsible for them whether by law or custom, and for as long as they are not effectively in the care
of such a person’;

The protection of minors, unaccompanied minors and young asylum seekers, being particularly
vulnerable groups and those most at risk of social exclusion, must be a priority for the European
Union, for its partner countries and for local and regional authorities;

On account of the inherently irregular nature of the entry into partner countries of particularly
vulnerable groups, such as victims of trafficking, asylum seekers and unaccompanied minors, mana-
ging such migration flows involves procedures under broader policies against irregular immigration;

These particular migration flows fall into a regulatory grey area between initially irregular entry and
subsequent legal stay, in accordance with the duty of protection guaranteed by national and interna-
tional law;

It is currently difficult to obtain EU-level data on this issue, because national authorities employ
different methods of classifying unaccompanied minors. In some countries they are classified for
statistical purposes as asylum seekers, in other countries as economic migrants and in others as aban-
doned minors;

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that there are approximately
25 million refugees worldwide and that 50 % of these are children. According to recent estimates,
between 2 % and 3 % of these are unaccompanied minors;

UNICEF estimates that the number of children trafficked annually, internally and externally, is around
1.2 million (UNICEF report — Stop the Traffic, July 2003). The Separated Children in Europe Programme,
a joint initiative of the International Save the Children Alliance and the UNHCR, conservatively estimates
that there are at least 100 000 unaccompanied minors in Europe. In Italy, according to the national
authority for the protection of foreign minors (Comitato Minori Stranieri) unaccompanied minors
number approximately 8 000 annually, with numbers rising in recent years. In Spain, the authorities
estimate between 3 000 and 4 000 unaccompanied minors annually, while in France, Holland,
Belgium it ranges from 5 000 to 6 000 each year. The number of unaccompanied minors is
undoubtedly much greater when irregular entry is taken into account, and the difficulty in accounting
for those present following irregular entry;

These unaccompanied minors come predominately from North African countries, and, in particular,
Morocco, from sub-Saharan Africa (Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Cameroon, etc.) from Asian countries,
especially Afghanistan, and from countries in Eastern Europe, particularly Romania, Moldova, Albania
and the former Yugoslav republics;

The task of assisting unaccompanied minors often falls entirely to local and regional authorities,
which have to take emergency measures to deal with this phenomenon as they do not have policies
to refer to, effective powers to solve the problem at source, the legal capacity to adopt decisions
relating to unification or assisted return, or action plans. This reduces their effectiveness and useful-
ness, while requiring a considerable investment of resources;

adopted the following opinion at its 66th plenary session, held on 12 October 2006:

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1. Opinions of the Committee of the Regions

The Committee of the Regions

notes that the European Commission gives insufficient
1.6
attention to the issue of unaccompanied minors and hopes that
the Strategy on the Rights of the Child (COM(2006) 367 final)
will effectively address this issue;

considers it essential to coordinate and manage migra-
1.1
tion flows in the EU efficiently, while respecting the subsidiarity
principle and protecting individual rights, particularly of the
most vulnerable groups, not only to fight racism, xenophobia
and other causes of insecurity, but also because it represents a
necessary pre-condition to achieving the Lisbon growth objec-
tives and, more generally,
the
internal market;

to realising the potential of

recognises that

1.2
if consistent and
planned measures are to be implemented for dealing with unac-
companied minors, the main objectives must be:

first and foremost,

1.7
points out that the only way of addressing migration in
the medium- and long-term is to introduce cooperation policies
encouraging the sustainable development of immigrants' coun-
tries of origin, giving their citizens and their young people, in
particular, opportunities in those countries;

1.8
commends the Communication's adoption of a novel
perspective which casts the country of origin as a stakeholder in
migration management (COM(2005) 389 final); in this context,
considers it essential to promote association agreements with
countries of origin, which should establish a direct link between
migration and the development that these countries need;

1) to achieve a fully reliable analysis of the situation followed
by an objective, statistics-based comparison of data at EU
level among the partner countries;

2) to develop a priority programme of intervention in these

minors' countries of origin.

1.9
notes that in many cases it falls to local and regional
authorities to receive and assist unaccompanied minors and that
this includes the obligation to ensure housing, social and
medical assistance and education. Where appropriate, they must
integrate them into employment and carry out the major admin-
istrative task of documenting each individual case, shouldering
the resulting financial burden;

1.3
has decided, in this context, to draw up this own-initia-
tive opinion on the situation of un-accompanied minors in the
migration process, through which it proposes to illustrate the
importance of this phenomenon as a part of migration flow
management, given the specific vulnerability of such minors and
the fact
that they are used to abuse the protection system
through activities encouraging child exploitation and labour;

believes that the management of the European Fund
1.10
for Integration should take into account the specific require-
ments of regional and local authorities, and supports their parti-
cipation in negotiating national programmes and the relevant
operational programmes;

1.4
points out, that given the particular nature of the situa-
tion and given the urgent need for the partner countries to deal
with the issue,
the key elements in achieving an objective
analysis of this phenomenon cannot be implemented without
the active and continuous involvement of the local and regional
authorities responsible for the care of these minors;

1.5
is convinced that in the approach to migration flow
management a qualitative leap is needed regarding irregular
migration, recognising the importance of border controls and,
more generally, of efforts to coordinate the work of Member
States'
interior ministries, but placing emphasis on the equal
importance of social and civilian territorial controls, without
which, all countermeasures will be ineffective and will not
produce the vital effects of governance called for repeatedly by
the Commission. Efforts are needed to prevent minors from
leaving their countries and to support assisted repatriation, by
building up a system of protection in the countries concerned,
focussing on measures to safeguard minors there;

notes that

1.11
the scale which this migration has now
assumed, the impact that it has in the regions in terms of
fulfilling specific needs and providing particular services and the
rising trend over recent years, indicate that local and regional
authorities must be fully involved in efforts to achieve effective
governance of the phenomenon in such regions; it is also neces-
sary for the national authorities to pursue a more active policy,
facilitating cooperation between local and regional authorities,
particularly with regard to vulnerable groups;

highlights,

1.12
in spite of the lack of data available, the
extraordinary work being carried out by the relevant administra-
tions in each of the Member States, which has come to light in
researching this opinion and recognises the high level of profes-
sionalism and service ethic of officials, as well as the vital
support of Non-governmental Organisations and child protec-
tion bodies and their work in recent years to protect the most
vulnerable, including young asylum seekers and victims of traf-
ficking;

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regrets that not all Member States have unified proce-
1.13
dures and structures with regard to the protection of unaccom-
panied minors and calls for Member States to implement
existing EU measures as uniformly as possible; also regrets the
implementation of haphazard measures, often involving a
conflict of powers between the various levels of government,
with a high risk of real and substantial discrimination in the
treatment of minors by the various Member States, but particu-
larly within individual Member States;

1.14
emphasises from the start that the problem of unac-
companied minors predominately affects regions bordering on
their areas of origin, and the more economically-developed
municipalities and regions with more job opportunities, and
that therefore there is a risk of paying insufficient attention to
the difficulties faced by densely populated municipalities and
regions with direct repercussions on their ability to effectively
protect minors; similarly, small and medium-sized local and
regional authorities also have scarce resources, hampering their
ability to act;

restates its disappointment regarding the Commission's
1.15
approach, in its use of loose phrasing in recent proposals —
COM(2005) 389 final, COM(2005) 390 final and COM(2005)
391 final — which refer to the forced return of unaccompanied
minors and trafficking victims, without any explicit or binding
reference to any specific article of the European Convention for
the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms or
of the Convention on Children's Rights of 1989;

considers it essential

1.16
to provide local and regional
services, with specialised staff, to meet the particular needs of
unaccompanied minors, asylum seekers and trafficking victims,
who are at high risk of discrimination and social exclusion, and
to carry out checks to combat the abuse of rights and fraud to
which child protection systems are subjected to, by means of:

— specific trauma-related healthcare, including ethnopsychiatry;

— specific services for minors subjected to detention within the

juvenile justice system;

— support for fostering procedures, perhaps involving families

of the same cultural origin;

— educational

initiatives

to help integrate unaccompanied
third-country minors into the school system, with a special
focus on learning the language of the host country;

— protection of unaccompanied minors who are refugees in
immigrant

further contact with illegal

EU states against
smuggling organisations.

2. Recommendations of the Committee of the Regions

2.1 Towards greater awareness of the issue of unaccompanied minors

The Committee of the Regions

considers insufficient the current legislation at Euro-
2.1.1
pean level and in certain Member States on asylum-seeking
unaccompanied minors and therefore calls for measures to
offset:

— the absence of specific procedures for requesting asylum

that offer suitable protection,

— the absence of specific services with the requisite profes-
input and adequate resources, both economic and

sional
material,

— the absence of specific references in recent asylum directives

(Dublin Convention II),

— the absence of procedures for appointing a guardian, fully
versed in asylum issues, who could receive support up until
the closure of the procedure for recognising the minor's
refugee or other status,

— the absence of measures aimed at preventing discrimination
and social exclusion, with particular regard to the detention
of minors under the juvenile justice system;

calls for an urgent debate with the Council,

2.1.2
the
Commission and the Parliament on approaching the issue of
unaccompanied minors at local level, looking in detail at the
difficulties faced by local and regional authorities and how they
can contribute specifically. It would also be aimed at empha-
sising the need for a statistical assessment of the phenomenon
at EU level. For this reason, the Committee proposes practical
measures for better governance of the situation;

— more active cooperation with the countries of origin and
support for localised cooperation between the community
of origin and the host community, based on the experience
gained by local and regional authorities;

2.1.3
hopes that during this EU-level debate on such an
important issue as unaccompanied minors, particular impor-
tance will be given to the situation and role of the communities
and families of origin;

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hopes that planned new legal and political measures
2.1.4
and programmes regarding unaccompanied minors, while in the
context of migration flow management, will always be aimed at
upholding the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of
the Child of 1989 and in particular, Article 3 therein, the princi-
ples set out in the Treaty establishing the European Union, the
European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms and other key international instruments
relating to unaccompanied children and, more generally, that
they will always be in the best interests of minors, including
measures geared to avoiding the removal of minors from their
family and cultural environment, and ensuring maximum
protection for minors when they have to leave their countries of
origin because of their ideas or beliefs.

2.2 Urgent need for EU measures to protect unaccompanied minors

The Committee of the Regions

2.2.1
calls for greater awareness of the problem at EU level
and believes that certain recent legislation has overlooked the
need to protect the rights of these minors. The effect of the
absence in some Member States of a unified procedure at
national level has been to oblige local and regional authorities
to assume responsibility for managing the phenomenon at local
level and for the resulting financial burden;

2.2.2
stresses the urgent need for establishing a common
and consistent approach to the issue of unaccompanied minors,
as an element of migration, which takes account of the extre-
mely delicate nature of the issue of minors and their protection,
of the vital role of communities and families of origin and
finally, of the need to give particular attention to the role of
local and regional authorities, with whom responsibility lies for
receiving these minors and providing social support;

States were to have sole responsibility, this would be out of
keeping with the complex relationship between the assorted
policies for managing migration flows and the responsibilities
that lie with local and regional authorities regarding reception
and social inclusion at local level of the most vulnerable groups,
including trafficking victims, asylum seekers and unaccompanied
minors;

local

2.3.2
calls for full involvement of local and regional authori-
ties, in order to achieve effective governance of the phenom-
enon at
level, particularly with regard to vulnerable
groups. It is also essential to achieve complementarity and coop-
eration between all the NGOs involved, so that all action is
coordinated with the respective authorities, unless this conflicts
with the overriding interest of the child. Dialogue and coordi-
nating mechanisms must be established at an early stage of the
crisis and be maintained throughout the whole process. The
scale which this migration has now assumed, the impact that it
has in the regions in terms of
fulfilling specific needs and
providing particular services and its increase in recent years,
necessitate such an approach. A forecast study should be drawn
up on the basis of this analysis.

2.3.3
necessary to:

The Committee of the Regions therefore believes it

a) introduce EU legislation that recognises the status of unac-
companied minors,
including those seeking asylum and
those who are victims of trafficking, which recognises the
fundamental rights of minors and their particular need for
protection, by means of clear rules regarding:

— specific procedures for determining the age and identity

of the minor as accurately as possible;

— practical measures to prevent fraudulent use of the law
and abuse of rights in recourse to protection systems;

2.2.3
calls for consideration to also be given to the role of
the juvenile justice system in relation to unaccompanied minors,
due to the possible risk of discrimination and social exclusion,
taking account, where
the possibility of
returning minors to their family environment.

appropriate, of

— specific terms for appointing a guardian;

— preference for the fostering process;

2.3 Strengthening the role of local and regional authorities, through a
bottom-up approach — proposals for approaching the issue of
unaccompanied minors, potential asylum seekers and trafficking
victims

— recognition of the rights involved in joining society as an
adult, from their eighteenth birthday, once the relevant
legal authority has been consulted;

— the search procedure for tracing family members with

the aim of family reunification;

The Committee of the Regions

— the promotion of measures

that
initiatives in the countries of origin;

support protection

2.3.1 welcomes the fact
governing migration are being taken at EU-level.

increasingly measures

for
If Member

that

— the involvement of

the communities and families of

origin;

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— provisions on assisted return, only when in the best
interest of the minor and always following consultation
with the family, taking into account any international
conventions on the protection of minors, ratified by the
country of origin;

— the definition of procedures and conditions in the event

of an emergency;

— consultation with the minor on all matters concerning
him/her, guaranteeing the public prosecutor's involve-
ment in the defence of his/her interests;

b) establish a local intervention programme, in the form of a
network (European network for the protection of minors)
focusing on unaccompanied minors, which would provide
specific services that could be integrated with the existing
network of social services and which would provide for
reception, integration and support for the communities and
families of origin and would also support pilot projects by
local authorities involving local cooperation, based on the
initiatives promoted and established by local and regional
authorities
in close cooperation with non-governmental
organisations and establishing criteria for the even distribu-
tion of unaccompanied minors throughout
the European
Union. To this end, the Committee of the Regions is under-
taking to collate the best practices of the EU's local and
regional authorities, in order to create a catalogue of experi-
ences regarding reception, social inclusion and family reunifi-
cation; to this end, a monitoring committee could be set up

Brussels, 12 October 2006.

to oversee in the field the conditions in which these proce-
dures are carried out, and which would be able to propose
specific measures whenever it saw the need for improve-
ments;

c) establish, in cases where minors remain in the host country,
the measures needed in order to integrate them properly into
the education system, to enable them to learn the language
of the host country and to become familiar with the demo-
cratic values of the host society

d) identify the areas from which the majority of the minors
originate and target cooperation initiatives, neighbourhood
policy and specific child- and adolescent-centred initiatives
on these areas, with the involvement of the communities of
origin;

e) introduce a social protection residence permit, by means of
cooperation with the interior ministries, in order to facilitate
a way out of exploitation and to combat criminal organisa-
tions effectively;

f) schedule a biennial European conference on unaccompanied
minors and similar conferences at national level and encou-
rage attendance by non-governmental organisations,
immi-
grant associations and other associations specialising in
immigration;

g) ensure full financing by national and European authorities of
resources for the reception and integration of unaccompa-
nied foreign minors.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Michel DELEBARRE