Children’s Ombudsman to discuss her intervention in care for separated children at Commissioner for Human Rights/Council of Europe seminar

The changes brought about in the care of separated children in Ireland following the intervention by the Ombudsman for Children will be discussed at Seminar on the Human rights dimension of migration in Europe organised the Commissioner for Human Rights in co-operation with the Turkish Chairmanship of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers in Turkey later this week (Thursday, 17th and Friday, 18th February).

Emily Logan, Ombudsman for Children, has been invited by the Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Thomas Hammarberg, to speak at the seminar and to share the experience of her Office in driving change in how the Irish State cares for separated children who arrive in Ireland without parents or guardians.

The Seminar will focus on the major human rights challenges currently posed by migration in Europe in general, as well as on the specific issues of the human rights of unaccompanied migrant children, and the humanitarian and human rights implications of migrant smuggling. The precise number of unaccompanied migrant children in Europe is not known due to a lack of reliable statistics. However, according to some estimates, as many as 100,000 unaccompanied migrant children may be present in Council of Europe member states. They constitute a particularly vulnerable group of migrants – they are not only children outside their country of origin but are moreover separated from their family members or primary caregiver.

The aim of the seminar is to serve as a forum to bring together national and international experts able to contribute to a substantive, interactive debate concerning the most important discrepancies between European migration laws and practices, and human rights standards, as well as on optimal ways in which more assistance may be provided to states in reflecting on and revisiting their migration policies. It is because of her work with separated children here in Ireland that the Ombudsman for Children has been asked to present to this seminar on the issue of upholding children’s rights and the introduction of practices that are consistent with international human rights standards.

In 2009, the Ombudsman for Children’s Office undertook a project with separated children living in Ireland to consult with them on their experiences of the State, and therefore to identify gaps in how the State was protecting this vulnerable group. The Ombudsman for Children called for the inferior care for separated children to stop and published a report in November 2009 with detailed recommendations, which included:

• The cessation of inferior care provided to separated children living in unregistered hostel accommodation;
• The review of the Joint Protocol between An Garda Síochána and the Health Services Executive and its adaptation to take account of the particular circumstances of separated children who go missing;
• The allocation of a social worker for these children; and
• That the best interests of the child should guide any forthcoming lmmigration, Residence and Protection Bill affecting these children.

During the course of this intervention, the HSE took steps to improve how these children were cared for and by December 2010, all unregistered hostels for separated children were closed, with children being placed for assessment and subsequent foster care.

While there are a number of outstanding issues that the Ombudsman for Children continues to focus on, the closure of the hostels and the placement of the children in residential care units and foster care is very significant. 515 separated children went missing in Ireland from 2000 to 2010, 440 of these remain unaccounted for. In 2009, 47 children went missing. This number was reduced to 11 in 2010. While it is completely unacceptable that any child in the care of the State should go missing, the closure of the hostels, an unsafe environment and the transfer of the children to an environment of either residential or foster care was certainly a contributing factor in the reduction in numbers.

ENDS

Contact: Nikki Gallagher at 01-8656803 or 086-8163246

Notes to editors:

More information about the Seminar on the Human rights dimension of migration in Europe can be found at www.coe.int/commissioner

Separated children are defined by the Separated Children in Europe Programme as “children under 18 years of age who are outside their country of origin and separated from both parents, or previous/legal customary primary care giver”.

The Ombudsman for Children has statutory responsibility set out in the Ombudsman for Children Act, 2002, for promoting the rights and welfare of all children living in Ireland.

The Ombudsman for Children Act, 2002, stipulates that the Ombudsman for Children has an obligation to consult children on matters of concern to them and to highlight these concerns.

More information about the Ombudsman for Children’s project with separated children, including the report can be found online.

• 16 February 2011
• Type: Press Release
• Topic: Immigration