Protection of children in migration

Call Updates

Jan 23, 2020 11:23:51 AM

In accordance to the Call text -Section 11.5-, questions related to the AMIF-2019-AG-CALL sent after 23:59 (CET) on 23rd January 2020 will not be answered. 

Dec 19, 2019 4:33:29 PM

The Topic description has been updated in alignment with the updated Call text.

Nov 29, 2019 4:06:14 PM

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the Call and also on particular Topics are available under the FAQ section, under Support tab, of the Funding and Tenders website.

Oct 22, 2019 3:01:11 PM

Please find below link to the slides used for Topic 6 presentation during the Call AMIF 2019 Info Session:

Presentation Topic 6 Protection of children in migration

Oct 22, 2019 11:52:42 AM

Please find below links to the slides used for overall Call-related presentations during the Call AMIF 2019 Info Session : 

Introduction 
Legal, administrative and financial matters

Oct 16, 2019 2:43:55 PM

The Agenda for Info Session scheduled for tomorrow 17th October 2019 is the following: 

9 – 915 : Welcome and short Introduction – Ramon Sanmartin, Unit E4, Call Coordinator
9:15 – 9:35: Presentation Topic 1, Fostering the integration of persons in need of protection through private sponsorship schemes - Laurent Aujean, Unit C2, Topic Coordinator
9:35 – 9:55: Presentation Topic 2, Social orientation of newly arrived third-country nationals through involvement of local communities, including mentoring and volunteering activities - Nuria Diez Guardia, Unit C2, Topic Coordinator
9:55 – 10:15: Presentation Topic 3, Social and economic integration of migrant women- Nuria Diez Guardia, Unit C2, Topic Coordinator
10:15 – 10:25: Break
10:25 – 10:45: Presentation Topic 4, Awareness raising and information campaigns on the risks of irregular migration in selected third countries and within Europe - Peter David, Unit C1, Topic Coordinator
10:45 – 11:05: Presentation Topic 5 Support to victims of trafficking in human beings - Eva Dimovne, Advisor, Topic Coordinator
11:05 – 11:25: Presentation Topic 6 Protection of children in migration - Isabela Atanasiu, Unit C3, Topic Coordinator
11:25 – 11:35: Break
11:35 – 12:35- Presentation on legal, administrative and financial matters for the Call – Ramon Sanmartin, Unit E4, Call Coordinator

Unfortunately due to last minute issues it will not be possible to present tomorrow 'Topic 7 Transnational projects by Member States for training of Experts in the area of Asylum and inmigration'. A separate presentation will be organised in the future. Further information will be published here. 

Oct 3, 2019 4:06:52 PM

The Info Session will be webstreamed on 17th October 2019 from 9.00 to 13.00 CET.

The link to connect to the event is the following: https://webcast.ec.europa.eu/info-session-amif-call-2019 Please note that the session will be published the day of the event.

An agenda of the session will follow in the coming days.

Jul 30, 2019 12:30:00 AM

The submission session is now available for: AMIF-2019-AG-CALL-06(AMIF-AG)

Protection of children in migration

ID: AMIF-2019-AG-CALL-06
Type of action: AMIF-AG AMIF Action Grant

Deadline Model : single-stage

Opening: 30 July 2019

Deadline: 30 January 2020 17:00:00 Brussels time 

Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund

Call name: Transnational actions on asylum, migration and integration

Call ID: AMIF-2019-AG-CALL

Scope:

Background

Migrant children continue to arrive to the EU in relatively large numbers. From the 34,376 irregular migrants who arrived to the EU by land or sea or land in the first half of 2019, 23% are children.[1] According to EASO, in 2018, children lodged 159,000 asylum applications in the EU+.[2] The number of unaccompanied migrant children arriving to the EU frontline Member States is notable: in Spain, 13,500 estimated to be present on the territory at the end of 2018, in Italy 8,500, and in Greece 3,700.

The 2017 Communication on the protection of children in migration[3] is still actual. The Communication identified serious gaps in the protection offered to migrant children in different areas, and set out recommendations on how to address the gaps identified. The Communication had highlighted the need to provide adequate reception and support to the migrant children, including in terms of accommodation, access to basic services, and specialised support for the most vulnerable, and the negative impact that detention measures may have on children, especially when detention is the consequence of an irregular migration status. The Communication thus recommended to work towards ensuring the availability of alternative care systems and of effective alternatives to administrative detention on migration grounds.

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (‘UNCRC’), a child should grow up in a family environment, and children temporarily deprived of their family environment, including migrant children, are entitled to special protection and assistance. In line with the requirements of Art. 24(2) of the Reception Conditions Directive (2013/33/EU), unaccompanied children seeking to obtain international protection in the EU must be provided suitable and safe reception conditions, which include placement with a foster family, accommodation centres with special provision for children, or other suitable accommodation, such as supervised independent living arrangements for older children. The UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children (2010) constitute relevant standards in this respect.[4]

The notion of “alternative care” in this context is not only about offering suitable accommodation outside the traditional reception institutions, but also about providing suitable assistance to the children - which should be tailored to their individual needs, besides facilitating access to education and healthcare.

Nowadays there is consensus amongst EU stakeholders that well-managed alternative care systems are more beneficial to the well-being and harmonious development of the unaccompanied migrant children. Notably so, alternative care systems are also less costly than institutional reception facilities. Yet, for a variety of reasons – of legal, cultural, socio-economic nature - at present only a small number of unaccompanied and separated migrant children arriving to the EU have the opportunity to benefit from quality alternative care, while the majority are still placed in institutional reception facilities. Nonetheless, there is a growing wealth of knowledge and expertise on how to provide quality alternative care, which needs however to be shared and spread across the Member States.

Alternatives to the detention of migrant children are foreseen by the legislation of several Member States, yet in practice, the alternatives are either not used or used in a limited way. Furthermore, as flagged in the Communication, in some instances migrant children are being detained only due to a shortage of places in suitable and safe accommodation.

The 2018 AMIF Call for Proposals has already proposed as a priority to finance projects facilitating the exchange of good practices and the provision of training on how to access alternative care systems and to support their operation (including by training the families providing the care), and respectively, on the effective use of alternatives to detention. In view of the importance and topicality of the two subjects – i.e., alternative care systems and alternatives to detention, the present Call shall continue the financing of projects on the same subjects.

Objectives

Concretely, the objective of this topic is to fund :

Projects focusing on the exchange of good practices and/or provision of the necessary training across the Member States so as to support the implementation/expansion/improvement of alternative/non-institutionalised care systems for the migrant children (such as family-based care, or foster care, or supervised independent housing arrangements, etc.) and/or of effective alternatives to the detention of children on grounds related to migration. (Projects with an exclusively national/regional/local focus should seek AMIF funding via the National Programmes, taking account of projects already co-funded in this area.[5]
Actions

Exchange of good practices and/or training and/or logistic support for the implementation/expansion/improvement of alternative care systems for migrant children, such as foster care, family-based care and/or supervised independent living where appropriate.
Exchange of good practices and/or training and/or logistic support for the implementation/expansion/improvement of effective alternatives to detention, such as regular reporting to the authorities (by the appointed representative/family-based care/foster carers), the deposit of a financial guarantee, or an obligation to stay at an assigned place.
This topic does not aim to fund actions involving::

Institutionalised care systems
Capacity-building for institutional care systems
Operating costs for family-based/foster care systems/supervised independent living/alternatives to detention (such as the cost of hiring staff, rental of buildings, purchase of real estate etc.)
Research on foster/family-based/independent living systems or alternatives to detention (there is already ample research available on these subjects – see bibliography below).
Outcomes

The projects financed under this topic should achieve the following outcomes:

Creation/consolidation/expansion and improvement of foster/family-based/independent living alternative care systems that are better adapted to the needs of children and more apt to promote their sound development. Increased/improved use of family-based care/foster care/supervised independent housing for unaccompanied children.
Creation/consolidation/expansion and improvement of effective and viable alternatives to the detention of migrant children, especially when detention is aimed to prevent absconding.
Training and preparation of staff/foster carers/family-based carers for performing all tasks related to promoting the well-being of the children (suitable accommodation, access to basic services and support, pro-integration activities). Preparing the carers for being able to identify and cater for the individual needs of each child and to table a tailored response to meet them.
Exchange of good practices and 'know how' across the Member States, as well as dissemination of the knowledge already accumulated on family-based alternative care systems and alternatives to detention across the national borders and at regional and local levels.
Improved access to of alternative care systems and to effective alternatives to detention for the migrant children, measurable through indicators such as:Number of migrant children who will benefit from the projects (Possibly disaggregated by age groups 0-14 and 15-17), and duration (for how long).
Number of training days that carers benefit from.
Number of places in alternative care (foster care, family-based care, (semi)-independent living etc.) covered (specifying if new places were created) by the project.
Number of places in alternatives to detention (specifying if new places were created) covered by the project.
Description of the services provided to unaccompanied minors (e.g. access to mental health, health and education/vocational training/labour market support) that were improved as a result of the project.
Further considerations applicable to this topic

Applicants are also invited to take note of, to avoid duplication with, and to build on previously funded projects:

The 10th European Forum on the rights of the child: the protection of children in migration, held on 29-30 November 2016.
The 11th European Forum on the rights of the child: Children deprived of their liberty and alternatives to detention, held on 6-8 November 2017. Under the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme, the EU has funded a number of transnational projects aiming at building child protection capacity in the area of alternative care[6] which are also a useful reference for potential applicants for this call.
The 12th European Forum on the Rights of the Child – and in particular the Workshop on the protection of children in migration.
The Daphne Toolkit
DG Justice Grants
Projects financed by DG JUSTICE on the rights of the child
DG HOME Funded projects under the 2018 AMIF Call
All application under this call should be elaborated in close partnership with and/or be led by appropriate key players (e.g. child protection agencies; ministries/authorities for children or social affairs; social protection; children’s ombudspersons; social services responsible for: housing, labour market integration, higher education and vocational training; health and mental health; counselling and psychosocial support; caregivers' associations, civil society organisations; the judiciary; academia).

At least one public authority from the country/countries where the alternative care or alternatives to detention are implemented must be involved either directly as applicant or co-applicant or indirectly (for example, only as beneficiary of the exchanges of good practices or training).

The continuation or follow-up of successful initiatives, including the scaling up of existing initiatives and/or testing them in a different context, may be funded if it is aligned with the topic. However, the duplication of an initiative will not be funded.

[1]https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/mediterranean - last accessed on 26 June 2019.

[2]EU28 plus Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Iceland.

[3]COM(2017) 211 final of 12.4.2017.

[4]https://www.refworld.org/docid/4c3acd162.html.

[5]See projects in this area previously funded at http://ec.europa.eu/justice/fundamental-rights/files/rights_child/compilation_previously_funded_projects_rights_of_the_child_and_violence_against_children.pdf, in particular the NIDOS Alfaca I and II projects, which mapped the different models used in Europe.

[6]See Section 4 http://ec.europa.eu/justice/fundamental-rights/files/rights_child/compilation_previously_funded_projects_rights_of_the_child_and_violence_against_children.pdf