Children on the move

“Children on the move are children first”

ENOC Position Statement on Children on the move, September 2013

On this occasion, Ombudspersons and Commissioners for Children adopted the Paris Statement (available in English and French) and confirmed their firm intention to put forward concrete actions aiming at guaranteeing the security of migrant children and the respect of their rights. This statement established a series of recommendations calling on States and the European Union to guarantee the effective protection of migrant children.

You can find the Conference programme here.

You will find on the page all relevant material produced by ENOC on the situation of children on the move.

• 2019 – ENOC Statement on “Ending detention of children for immigration purposes”–ENOC members called on European states’ governments to introduce into their legislation the total prohibition of detention of children for immigration reasons, to fully eliminate in practice the imposing of deprivation of liberty measures to migrant children, to strengthen relevant monitoring mechanisms, as well as to widely promote and support child friendly and appropriate measures alternative to detention. Also available in Serbian Cyrilic and Serbian Latin.
• 2019 – ENOC Statement on the situation of children on the move on rescue vessels in the Mediterranean – In this statement, ENOC called on Governments to respect the rights of children on the move on rescue vessels in the Mediterranean.
• 2017 – ENOC Statement on urging the EU institutions to respect the rights of the child in developping the new Common European Asylum System (CEAS) – This statement was adopted on the occasion of a High-level meeting on ‘Europe’s challenge to ensure a rights perspective for children in migration‘ organised on 24 April 2017 in Stockholm (Sweden) by the Swedish Ombudsman for Children, the Children’s Welfare Foundation Sweden and the Swedish Parliament. ENOC expressed concerns the lack of child rights perspective in the new CEAS.
• 2018 – ENOC Statement on the Right to Education of Children on the Move – In this statement, ENOC urged States, national, regional and international authorities, bodies, organizations, and decision-makers to make further efforts to establish full accessibility of education based on principles of social and educational inclusion, to every child on the move and on all levels of education within the national mainstream education system. Also available in Serbian Cyrilic and Serbian Latin.
• 2013 – ENOC Statement on “Children on the move” – ENOC members expressed deep concern regarding the position of “children on the move” in their respective countries and the notable deficiencies in European, national and local policies in responding to their needs and interests. ENOC underlined that in this framework “children on the move” should benefit from specific attention and enhanced protection given their vulnerability, particularly those separated from their family and unaccompanied. Also available in Greek, Serbian Cyrilic, Serbian Latin and French.
• 2013 – ENOC Statement “Urgent help for Syrian Children in refugee camps” – This joint statement, also available in French, called for an urgent help required for Syrian children in refugee camps to avoid an humanitarian catastrophe.
• 2008 – ENOC Statement on the EU “Return” Directive – In this statement, ENOC expressed deep concern about the recent agreement reached by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU on the ‘Return’ Directive (18.06.2008) and called on national governments to transpose it by respecting fully and without any exceptions the rights of children and the safeguards for their full enjoyment by foreign minors, especially those unaccompanied.
  
• 2006 – ENOC Statement on State Obligations for the Treatment of Unaccompanied Children – This Statement summarizes the principles that ENOC members believe must be respected and included in national and international legal instruments, administrative practices and services regarding the protection of unaccompanied children.

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• In an Open Letter, ENOC urges for the immediate evacuation of migrant children from the refugee camps in Greece and to massively relocate them, April 2020
• ENOC calls for a global human and children’s rights based migration policy in a short statement on migrant and families treatment in the USA, June 2018
• ENOC participated in a stocktaking meeting with Commissioner Jourová on the situation of migrant and refugee children in Europe, February 2018
• Joint visit of four Commissioners for children to the Calais migrant camp  to seek guarantees that all children living in the camp receive appropriate and safe accommodation prior to its closure, October 2016
• ENOC participated in meetings with Commissioner Jourová on children in migration, February 2016
• ENOC Letter “Urgent call regarding the protection of the rights of unaccompanied children on the move in Europe” following the agreement of the 18 March 2016 between Turkey and the EU, April 2016
• First Report of ENOC Task Force on Children on the move “Safety and fundamental rights at stake for Children on the move”, January 2016 : Press release “European Ombudspersons for Children raise alarm: unacceptable safety risks for children on the move” and Open Letter “Safety and fundamental rights are at stake for Children on the move”
• Joint Open Letter of 59 organisations (including ENOC), “Time to act to ensure children’s rights in the EU’s migration policy: 10 action points”, October 2015
• ENOC members stood for Children on the move at the 19^th ENOC General Assembly meeting on 24^th September 2015 and created a Task Force to monitor and report on the ongoing situation of children on the move within the ENOC membership, September 2015
• ENOC Open Letter to all National Governments, the European Union and the International community to stop repeated human tragedies in the Mediterranean , April 2015
• The Catalan Ombudsman reacted to the humanitarian crisis involving immigrants in the Mediterranean, April 2015

• Background Report made with the contributions of 19 ENOC members
• ENOC’s Recommendations “Safeguarding and protecting the rights of children on the move: the challenge of social inclusion” – 13 November 2017, Athens