Description
In 2011, 169 children that are outside their country of origin without accompany were discovered in Slovakia, in 2012 more than 200. More than 90% of them dissappeared.The UN CRC Convention aims to protect every child without discrimination and separated children are protected by special protective measures. Separated children in SVK do not benefit from the same level of protection as Slovak children. They are not primarily viewed as vulnerable children, but rather as economics migrants heading to the "West". The aim of the project is to shed light on the needs and vulnerabilities of these children, including improvements in their care/needs, identification of reasons leading to their disappearances, possible causalities with human trafficking, as well as best practices. Implementation methods include: desk research, field research, case law analysis, policy recommendations. Our intention is to reach out to raise awareness and sensitize the general public and public administration.
Summary of project results
This pilot project helped to make the problem of disappearing separated children visible and raised awareness and interest among responsible state authorities, we have started an expert dialog regarding this topic.We reach our goals. The first aim " Raising awareness about the separated children: we have attracted the interest of media regarding the topic, which can be proved by numerous articles and reportages published in well -known media and newspapers in Slovakia.The second aim "Improvement of the legal environment in the field of protection of target group has been achieved mainly by the following: In the reaction to our recommendations in the Position Paper the responsible state authorities started of prepare several changes and measures in relation to the care and protection of separated children.The third aim "Strengthening the expert dialogue : We have put in contact all the relevant state authorities and therefore enabled teh start of their cooperation-mainly the cooperation among the relevant policie authorities participated in the round.table discussion, in which we presented our findings and recommendations.Thanks to this project responsible authorities have been preparing various measures, which could potentially improve the protections of separated children places in state care facilities.Other outcomes: short movie on the life separated children in Slovakia, many articles and commentaries have been published to the media event, the topic attracted the attention of the media.
Summary of bilateral results