The Bureau of the Congress
CG/BUR12(2017)231
7 June 2016
New terms of reference of the Current Affairs Committee (5/2017)
Document submitted for approval by the Bureau of the Congress on 16 June 2017
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This document has been classified as confidential until examination by the Bureau of the Congress.
CG/BUR12(2017)23
TERMS OF REFERENCE 5/2017/CUR
REPORT
THEME:
EVENT
Refugee children and minors in Europe: role and responsibilities for local and regional authorities
Political objective
(and specific local or regional
dimension)
Since 2015, 30% of the asylumseekers arriving in Europe have
been children and 96,000 of them
are unaccompanied. This situation
has revealed several shortcomings
in the arrangements for the
protection of children and in
reception policies.
As a result there is now an
alarming increase in the number of
cases of violence – in particular
sexual violence – as well as
disappearances of migrant children
or refugees. The lack of an
appropriate response to this
situation is not only a failure to fulfil
the duty of preservation of the
child’s best interest; in the medium
and long term it also risks
undermining social cohesion in
European countries.
To date local and regional
authorities have been on the
frontline when it comes to
managing the crisis. In view of their
powers and responsibilities, they
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Current Affairs Committee
Relevance to the political
priorities of the Council of
Europe, the Congress
and its committees
The CoE’s conference of ministers
adopted the Action Plan on
protecting refugee and migrant
children in Europe on 19 May 2017 in
Nicosia, Cyprus (CM(2017)54 final).
The Council of Europe Strategy
(2016-21) and Action Plan (2016-19)
on protecting refugee and migrant
children are based on three pillars:
ensuring access to rights and childfriendly procedures; providing
effective protection; enhancing the
integration of children who wish to
remain in Europe.
In September 2016, the
Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe adopted the report
“Harmonising the protection of
unaccompanied minors in Europe”,
which takes stock of the situation of
unaccompanied or missing children.
In March 2017 the Lanzarote
Committee adopted a report entitled
“Protecting children affected by the
refugee crisis” from sexual
Timeline
Proposed follow up
(appointment rapporteur,
debate in committee, possible
hearing, approval by
committee, etc)
Dissemination of the resolution
and of a possible
recommendation by:
Rapporteur to be confirmed on
14 June 2017 in Belgrade,
Serbia.
members of the Congress;
national and European
associations and local and
regional authorities;
other specific networks
helping to integrate migrants
and refugees, and in particular
children, as well as to protect
these children, including
international and nongovernmental organisations.
Draft terms of reference to be
approved by the Committee on
14 June 2017.
Definition and precision of the
Congress’ role in the context of
the Council of Europe Action
Plan on protecting refugees
and migrant children in Europe,
and strengthening co-operation
and co-ordination with the
relevant bodies of the Council
of Europe.
Using the Congress’ platforms
and co-operation programmes
Examination and approval of a
preliminary draft resolution and
recommendation by the
Committee in October 2017
(Strasbourg).
Presentation of the draft
resolution and recommendation
at the 34th session of the
Chamber of Local Authorities in
March 2017.
Implementation
requirements
(expert, missions,
interpretation, secretariat
involvement, etc)
Secretariat:
- assistance in drafting the
explanatory memorandum,
the resolution and a possible
recommendation;
- dissemination of the
adopted texts.
Expert:
- a contract
- travelling and subsistence
expenses for attending
meetings of the committee in
June and October 2017.
Translation:
- of the draft explanatory
memorandum ;
- of the draft resolution and
of a possible
recommendation;
- of other documents relating
to the preparation of the
report.
CG/BUR12(2017)23
have a special role to play in
protecting children’s best interests
and in ensuring that they are
successfully integrated. The
Special Representative of the SG
of the CoE on Migration identified
priority issues in his thematic
report: guardianship, procedures
for determining age, effective right
to social and medical services and
to education, and alternatives to
the detention of migrant children.
In the case of migrant children and
refugees, successful integration
into the host community should
have a positive impact in terms of a
drop in the number of acts of
violence and missing children.
The Congress will take part in the
implementation of the CoE Action
Plan for refugee and migrant
children through its co-operation
with national associations of local
and regional authorities in member
states. The focus of the June 2017
biennial seminar for national
associations will be refugee
children.
exploitation and sexual abuse”,
identifying and proposing the
implementation of good practices in
the preventing violence, protecting
victims, and in co-operation and
exchanges between member states.
The Congress has made this subject
one of the main objectives of its
Priorities for 2017-2020, underlining
the special attention that should be
given to the interests and
fundamental rights of migrant and
refugee children. In March 2017, the
Congress adopted the report entitled
“Reception and integration of
migrants and refugees at local and
regional level”.
to put in place concrete followup activities and continue cooperation with the
intergovernmental sector to
implement the provisions of the
resolution and
recommendation.
Seek possibilities of interaction
with the Committee of the
Regions of the EU on this
subject through joint activities.
Follow up and forward to the
Congress Bureau the
Committee of Ministers’ reply to
a possible Congress
recommendation.
The forthcoming report should be
envisaged as an extension of the
afore-mentioned report, as it takes a
closer look at the role of local and
regional authorities with regard to the
protection of migrant and refugee
children.
The aim of the resolution that will
be submitted to the Congress
following this report will be to
encourage local authorities to carry
out activities in the context of the
Action Plan, while the
recommendation to member states
should underline the need to adapt
national laws to the requirements
of the situation.
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