European Commission
Fundamental Rights and
Citizenship Programme
PROJECT: JUST/2009/FRAC/AG/0933
Children’s rights in action. Improving children’s rights in migration across Europe. The Romanian case.
This project is co-funded by the European Union’s Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Programme.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MEMBERS OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Assumption:
Following the results of the multi-country research conducted in Italy, Spain and Romania from
March 2011 to February 2013, it is necessary to be aware of the existence of different types of
families in Europe, some of them involved in migration processes with children among different
countries of Europe. Mobility and migration inside Europe is an ongoing process.
The research project we are presenting today highlights a new phenomenon started recently in
Europe regarding remigration of families. Due to the economical crisis that is affecting some of the
most common destination countries for Romanians (Spain and Italy), a lot of families decided to
return to their countries of origins. Sometimes this remigration process involves also children that
have to reintegrate in their country of origin after a lot of year living abroad. This phenomenon is
increasing and it is important to be aware about specific needs of these children and their families.
The implementation of EU recommendations or directives regarding the freedom of mobility is still
different in each country. The research project “Children’s Rights in Action” have pursued the aim
of identifying these needs and carried out some recommendations for EU institutions to help the
promotion of new strategies to ensure the social inclusion of families involved in migration
processes.
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European Commission
Fundamental Rights and
Citizenship Programme
Recommendations:
After analyzing the results of the researches, we can recommend to European authorities the
following actions in order to protect better migrant children’s rights and reduce their vulnerability:
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To monitor and asses the way media is referring to migrants and propose new measures to
achieve the fulfilment of existing ethical codes for media in Europe, free of stereotypes in
Europe.
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To ensure the evaluation of European inclusion policies and to monitor their effectiveness
on the achievement of results.
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To guarantee a real European credit transfer at all levels of the education system in order
to support mobility around Europe together with children.
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To foster intercultural education inside the schools, implementing - for migrant children programms aimed to learn hosting language and to know hosting culture and offering
spaces to share cultural practices with mates. Intercultural education and learning the
language of the host country are two key points in the EU countries and important
evidences from our study in Italy and Spain (even though Spain is more advanced than Italy
about this issue).
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To establish and make available to citizens proper procedures to support families who
decided to migrate to another country or those who decide to remigrate in order to
prepare them to the process, especially regarding children to reduce the impact of
migration and their vulnerability.
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To promote a European training programme for teachers, educators, social workers and
justice officers in contact with migrants for a better knowledge of multiculturalism and
respect of other cultures.
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