The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) published a report on the protection of unaccompanied and separated children in Belgium. The report describes the current state of affairs and provides policy recommendations to reinforce the protection of this vulnerable category of foreign nationals.

Attracting students from third countries and facilitating their entry into the national labour market is a priority to the EU. The EMN has published a study on 25 EU countries’ efforts to provide opportunities for international students.

This final report, realised by the Study and Policy Unit of the Federal Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (Fedasil), describes the reception of vulnerable applicants for international protection with specific needs. It discusses how (field) staff define, identify and respond to vulnerability in practice. The objective is to develop a better understanding of the way in which Fedasil and its reception partners fulfill the requirement of Belgian and European legislation to meet the specific needs of applicants for international protection.

22 (Member) States provided information regarding their definition of the concept of vulnerability and their practices regarding the identification and the care of vulnerable applicants for international protection with special reception needs.  

This Inform summarises the main results of the EMN study on “Approaches to Unaccompanied Minors Following Status Determination in the EU plus Norway”.

This EMN study focuses on the approaches to Unaccompanied Minors following status determination in the EU plus Norway. The study covers the period 2014-2017, thereby following up on previous EMN research on unaccompanied minors.

Over a period of two years, a UNICEF Belgium team collected the testimonies of 170 migrant and refugee children from 36 nationalities in reception centres and schools. The children talk about their experiences in their country of origin and their new environment, the disaster they fled for, the trials they endured on the way, their joy and sorrow. With this report UNICEF wants to build a bridge between the words of these young people, who are very keen on participation, and policy makers who are often far removed from their reality.

24 (Member) States provided information on the volume of returned unaccompanied minors and on family tracing. This ad hoc query was launched by the Finnish Contact Point to the EMN.

This report aims to support practitioners in implementing relevant polices in line with applicable law by outlining available safeguards against unlawful and arbitrary detention and highlighting promising practices.

Myria, the Belgian Federal Migration Centre, today published a paper on humanitarian visa issued by the Belgian authorities in 2016.

This report shows how the lack of safe and legal pathways for refugee and migrant children feeds a booming market for human smuggling and puts them at risk of violence, abuse and exploitation.

23 (Member) States provided information on how they are currently dealing with some aspects of Directive 2016/801, in particular types of financial resources used by international students, the use of frozen/blocked accounts by international students, and approved/recognised organisations mediating au pairs. This ad-hoc query was launched by the Belgian Contact Point to the EMN.

This report sheds light on the truly global nature of childhood migration and displacement, highlighting challenges faced by child migrants and refugees in every region.