Children fleeing Ukraine, a European challenge
The third bulletin on the protection of the fundamental rights of people fleeing the war in Ukraine is now available online on the website of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). This time the focus is on children, particularly on the reception measures adopted by the European countries that welcomed them and on their social and educational integration.
As underlined by Michael O'Flaherty, Director of FRA, "many of these children live in perpetual uncertainty. In their short lives, they have borne witness to a global pandemic, the violent invasion of their country, and a journey to a new one. They have been separated from family members, have had to learn a new language, understand a new culture, and make new friends, all the while not knowing how long this precarious chapter will last."
According to the report, in order to protect the rights of these children, some key areas need to be urgently addressed: avoid further loss of education, offer healthcare and counselling, carefully register children and promote their deinstitutionalisation, protect unaccompanied children and support those with disabilities.
"The way forward must be one anchored in existing EU and international law, which binds us all”, Director O’Flaherty explains.
As the Italian contractor of the FRANET multidisciplinary network of experts supporting FRA's research activities, Fondazione Brodolini drafted the report on Italy, also available in its Italian language version.
In fact, for the first time, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights has also made country reports available in the national languages of each of the 27 EU member states.
