February 23, 2021
The EU Migration and Asylum Pact published by the Commission in September 2020 contains a wide-ranging set of proposed measures and recommendations in relation to EU migration and asylum management. In May 2020, Child Circle and KIND published a joint Briefing Paper and Key Recommendations Concerning Measures at EU Borders for Unaccompanied Children. Following the publication of the Pact, in December 2020, a joint statement published by a group of NGOs in Europe shared broad concerns about the Pact’s impact on children as well as general recommendations for change, including as regards the proposed border measures, which are a lynchpin of the overall system proposed by the EU. In January 2021, Child Circle and KIND have published recommendations to the EU in its report on Advancing Protection for Unaccompanied Children in Europe by Strengthening Legal Assistance.
The goal of this paper is: to review more closely the issues that arise for children at the EU external borders, to identify challenges which need to be considered more closely, and to share more detailed recommendations in relation to the proposed new EU screening and border procedures.
