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Description
The project will improve the identification of vulnerable groups (e.g. unaccompanied minors and youngsters separated from their families) early in the asylum procedures, assess their needs and prepare for the later stages of the asylum procedure.
The project will include the following main activities:
- Developing training curriculums;
- Developing indicators handbook;
- Developing e-learning platform;
- Training of first line Hellenic Police officers working within the Reception and Identification Centers in vulnerability identification, through the use of training simulators;
- Mapping and best practices exchange meetings with similar entities on relevant areas of
concern.
Summary of project results
Since 2015 when mass migration flows started in Greece, a requirement identified and gradually introduced into Greece, as in other EU Member States, was the need for a holistic identification and protection procedure for vulnerable migrants. This required knowledge and capacity building in Greek competent authorities so as to reach a more comprehensive approach regarding the basic needs and rights of Unaccompanied Minors (UAMs) within the national asylum and migration management system. In this regard, the development of a concrete and early identification system of UAMs to separate children and youngsters based on the input provided by the first line practitioners, who come into contact with migrants and refugees (Hellenic Police officers), is very important.
The project provided a good basis for the establishment of training activities within the Hellenic Police training system by using state-of-the-art technology especially focusing on trainings related to fundamental rights. Never in the past was there a case where simulation scenarios brought text and animation to the class rooms, making the training activity so exciting and live. Fundamental Rights are often presented in a way that lacks visual or dynamic elements, which can make the material less engaging for trainees. Incorporating pictures, animations, or other visual aids could significantly enhance understanding and knowledge retention—particularly when discussing for vulnerable groups.
The project provided an excellent opportunity to bring together operational staff from different actors from ministries and services that actively work on border and migration management, discovering common challenges at the spot and increase efficiency of the state actors on the management of vulnerable groups.
The project managed to bring together police officers from different geographical areas and border regions who shared information and experiences on fundamental rights and practices towards vulnerable groups, in an effort to better manage sensitive categories of people. Not all police officers working at different regions could have the same mentality and understanding of fundamental rights and management of vulnerable groups due to the particularities and volume of migration population at certain border segments nn combination with the means that are available for border guarding and management of migrants and refugees. This mixture of information and knowledge as well as the material which was delivered by the training team, has given a certain form of action that will eventually work for the benefit not only for the migrants and refugees or vulnerable groups but also for the staff operating at the borders. The project emphasized to all participants the critical importance of fundamental rights in border management, particularly in the context of migration management, where police authorities play a significant role in Greece.
The following activities were implemented:
a. Field Research: A field visit to a reception and identification center (hotspot) with the aim to facilitate the research team in reaching a concrete and clear vision of the circumstances under which the police officers carry out their duties on the reception and identification line and identify their special training needs. Findings of this field visit supported the development of indicators in identifying persons in need of specialized treatment.
- One (1) three-day field visit in refugee/migrants'' facilities in Norway
- One (1) two-day study visit in FRONTEX Empirical Interviews with EU high-expertise officers of competent agencies
b. Training curriculum: The field research served as the basis for structuring the curriculum of the project''s training programmes aiming to provide police officers with knowledge and best practices to better perform their tasks concerning the identification and aiding of the extremely vulnerable and special migrant groups.
c. Handbook: The handbook was a concise and practical hard copy edition of curriculum.
d. Creation of two training simulation platforms: The simulation training platforms'' objective is to expose trainees to real-life scenarios including unaccompanied minors and vulnerable groups. The platforms comprise of software aimed at training and informing police officers in screening and identification of unaccompanied minors, as a priority, and persons of other vulnerable categories as well.
e. Creation of an e-learning platform: The e-learning platform was developed to support training needs as regards the communication between trainees and trainers, as well as access to training material and articles. The training material, handbook and simulation training platforms were integrated in this e-learning platform.
f. Train the trainers programme: The training course initiated with the training of 31 trainers who will serve as the core training team in future relevant training sessions.
g. Training programmes: The 31 trainers trained the 243 police officers to be deployed to reception and identification centers across the maritime external borders and more specifically on the islands of Lesvos, Kos, Chios, Samos and Leros, as well as across the external land borders of Evros region, currying out duties related to the identification of unaccompanied minors and vulnerable groups.
The project has introduced a new understanding of the importance of fundamental rights and especially on the protection of vulnerable groups of people to all those who participated during the training activities. This is proven by the fact that when the call for participation was launched, there was a significant number of police officers who expressed their intention and willing to actively participate to its courses.The project revealed the necessity and mainly the need for training activities related to fundamental rights. Though the culture of fundamental rights has been integrated into the Common Core Curricula of the Police Academies, the way that the training was delivered was innovative and set the basis for adequate training activities in future, both at basic and post-training level. It also contributed in having an important number of Police Officers who can be used as trainers for future training activities both at the Police Academies (basic level) and post-training activities at local and regional level. There was on the spot visits in Samos and Lesvos islands by experts who then created and provided high quality training material with first-hand information and also designed simulation scenarios for the training. The use of simulation googles was quite innovative and there were good comments of the participants on using state-of-the-art technological tools for this kind of training, thus moving forward from the old-fashioned way of training activities.