Migration

The migration project seeks to create a seamless humane environment for children and young people. The initiative is being piloted in Greece and will then extend to other regions.

Currently, in Greece, thousands of unaccompanied children/youths fall in between the cracks of the system and “disappear.” There is an urgent need to provide and implement policy recommendations that address this problem. 

Who is involved?

The project will be managed by the Foundation and it will work with two partner organisations: Solidarity NOW (led by Professor Antigone Lyberaki of Panteion University), ELIAMEP (Professor Sotiropoulos of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens) and Resilient Cities Catalyst (Michael Berkowitz, Founding Principal, RCC).

The project will also include experts on child protection and development, education and integration policies, refugees and activists working with migrant and asylum seekers and local government officials, existing local, national, and international NGOs and government agencies and organizations. 

Project objectives:

• to design and implement policy recommendations for a seamless process where a refugee or migrant unaccompanied child/youth would in turn be taken care of, educated and advised from the moment of arrival in Greece until their 18th birthday. 
• to help reduce overlaps and conflicts by creating a common collaboration space between NGOs and those involved in the migration crisis in Greece
• to create links between the global South and global North on areas of similar migration hotspots with a focus on the trafficking of unaccompanied minors 
• to create international links between the states focusing on the issues of Child Protection and trafficking of unaccompanied minors.  

This procedure would be designed in a way that safeguards the rights as accorded in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Of vital importance especially for unaccompanied refugee and migrant children is to secure measures that prevent violence and exploitation and provide access to child-friendly justice.  Promoting a safe and secure environment which safeguards their participation in the EU’s democratic political life. 

Refugee Minors: Falling Through the Cracks

View the session that took place at the Democracy & Culture Foundation Day during the 2021 Athens Democracy Forum.

View it here, and see shorter versions below.