FAR held a Practical Seminar on "Safeguarding the Rights of Refugee and Migrant Children" on 31 October and 1 November 2024.
The event brought together over 40 participants - lawyers, representatives of the State Agency for Refugees (SAR), the State Agency for Child Protection (SCPA), the Ombudsman institution in Bulgaria, the UNHCR, UNICEF, the International Organization for Migration, the ReachOUT Foundation, the Mission Wings Foundation, the Bulgarian Lawyers for Human Rights Foundation, SOS Children's Villages, the Ukraine Support & Renovation foundation, representatives of social services for children and Child Protection Departments.
The seminar started with a presentation on the topic "The EU Asylum and Migration Pact and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights - Application to Children" by Dr. lawyer Valeria Ilareva, Manager and Chairperson of FAR.
The first part of the training, "Identifying Vulnerability and Children with Special Needs. Admission and procedure.", was moderated by Lawyer Valeri Petkov from FAR. He presented different definitions of the term "specific vulnerability" of unaccompanied refugee children in the legal framework of European and national legislation, as well as examples from practice. There were additional presentations by Christina Gologanova, ReachOUT Foundation, Lawyer Todor Iliev, legal representative of unaccompanied children, Zeynep Ahmedova, Senior Expert at the Directorate for Social Support and Adaptation, State Agency for Refugees and Petya Karayaneva, UNHCR.
In the second part of the training the participants had the opportunity to be involved in a practical exercise "From Harm to... Home? The road of a child to Europe" led by Elena Giga, children's rights expert and trainer from Greece. The exercise included a role play that allowed participants to be immersed in the experiences of unaccompanied children on their journey to places where they hope to find greater safety.
The second training day started with the topic "Alternatives to detention of refugee and migrant children. Accommodation and reception conditions. Access to education." moderated by lawyer Yanka Kosarova from FAR. She presented the basic principles and the general European legal framework concerning the detention of refugee and migrant children, the guarantees for the protection of their rights and the alternatives to detention. The module was also attended by Lora Voynova, UNICEF, Dr. Olga Kolot, FAR, as well as representatives of community based social services where unaccompanied refugee children are placed - Velislava Krumova, family-type center, Oborishte, Sofia, Alexander Malinski, semi-independent living centers for children, Gorna Banya, Sofia; Vilislava Stoeva, SOS Children's Villages; Diana Dimova, Mission Wings Foundation.
The afternoon module was dedicated to the topic "Strategic Issues to Address. Conducting strategic litigation" and moderated by Lawyer Valeria Ilareva, FAR. The topic was presented by lawyer Sofia Razboynikova, Bulgarian Lawyers for Human Rights Foundation and lawyer Todor Iliev, legal representative of unaccompanied children.
The seminar, its content and the speakers were highly appreciated by the participants. The FAR team believes that the training will have a lasting effect on the participants who will put into practice the newly acquired knowledge and each of them will contribute to safeguarding children's rights not only in the institution or organization where they work, but also beyond, as ambassadors of children's rights.
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The Safeguarding Unaccompanied and Separated Children's Rights through the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights – SUN project (101084990) and the RELEASE Project - pRotEcting migrant chiLdrEn AgainSt detention through the EU Charter (101143000) are funded by the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Program of the European Commission. The content of this document represents the views of the author(s) only and is his/her sole responsibility. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
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