129th ASSEMBLY and RELATED MEETINGS

Geneva, 7-9 October 2013

 

Standing Committee on Democracy and Human Rights

 

The role of parliaments in protecting the rights of children,

in particular unaccompanied migrant children,

and in preventing their exploitation in situations of war and conflict

 

TALKING POINTS

 

                                                                                       Senator Augustin - Constantin MITU                    

                                                                                                        Romanian IPU Group

 

Mr. President,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The subject we discuss today, our debate so far and the draft documents prepared by the Rapporteurs are fully in line with the commitment of international community to provide a more human-rights based approach to migration.

This means genuine respect for and protection of the human rights of all migrants, taking into account their differentiated vulnerabilities, based on gender, age, health, legal status and other factors.

Unaccompanied migrant children, in particular, face multiple vulnerabilities related to age, to the process of migration itself, to gender, in the case of girls, and often to their irregular situation. Any law, policy, programme and action concerning them must be based first and foremost on a child-rights approach. 

In my opinion, as parliamentarians, we have to see to it that the particular needs of unaccompanied migrant children are addressed coherently in national laws and policies – whether on child protection, migration, asylum or human trafficking - , with due regard to the gender dimension, as a common feature.  

Additional efforts are required for improving the collection of data, both quantitative and qualitative, for harmonizing data collection methods, and for increasing the exchange of information on unaccompanied migrant children, as a means to develop tailored policies and programmes responding to the diversity of situations, motivations and causes of migration. 

Enabling legislation and policies must be accompanied by a major shift in mentality and attitudes and an adequate and systematic training of all professional groups working with and for children in the context of migration, in order to ensure that migrant children, irrespective of their situation, are treated first as children, with the child’s best interests in mind, and only then as migrants.     

Dear colleagues,

In Romania, we have developed legislation in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and other international and European instruments of relevance. The legal framework has been continuously updated in order to respond to the needs of children affected by exploitation under various forms, human trafficking, and illegal migration.

According to the Law for the protection and promotion of the rights of children, and the corresponding National Strategy and Action Plans for the period 2008-2013, beneficiaries of protection are - besides Romanian children within the Romanian territory - Romanian children abroad; children without citizenship on Romanian soil; children requesting or benefiting from protection under the status and regime of refugees in Romania; foreign children on Romanian soil, in emergency situation.

Also, the Law on Asylum encompasses explicitly the principle of the child’s best interests in all decisions regarding the refugee determination status, as well as the principles and procedural guarantees of family unity, non-refoulement, non-discrimination, confidentiality and the benefit of the doubt. 

The procedure of repatriation of unaccompanied Romanian children and the special protection measures upon return are subject to a Government Decision establishing the responsibilities of national institutions involved and the modalities in which they cooperate. At the same time, repatriation procedures are established in bilateral agreements concluded with destination countries, such as Spain, Italy or France.

In practice, nevertheless, due to the absence of common legislative standards and methodologies and to a differentiated interpretation of the law, cases of unaccompanied Romanian children, which have the same characteristics, are dealt with in very different ways in transit and destination countries.

For instance, there are cases in which repatriation is refused for children under the age of 3 – and these children are adopted by families in destination countries, while for children in the same situation, who are more than 3-year old, repatriation is accepted.

Moreover, requests of information on Romanian unaccompanied children – with respect to their legal status, health condition, access to education and relations with the natural parents – remain often unanswered. 

This is why I take this opportunity to stress the need for unitary instruments and methodologies, and for enhanced cooperation between origin, transit and destination countries, so as to ensure that all cases of unaccompanied migrant children are treated in an equitable, correct and transparent way.        

Thank you for your kind attention!