Unaccompanied minors are children under the age of 18 who have left their home countries and their homes for different reasons and are now living without their parents or legal guardians. Some of them are entirely on their own, while some are living with their relatives or other adult persons. Unaccompanied minor migrants represent a specific vulnerable group within contemporary migration movements in all European countries and are often at risk of economic and sexual exploitation. There will be a special emphasis on the situation within the enlarged European Union, where new countries are challenged by the arrival of unaccompanied minors, whether as source, transit or destination countries, and where this issue is still “less visible”. In new member states, the situation of unaccompanied minors is still largely under-researched, and therefore, there is hardly any information on their social situation nor practical implementation of legislation. There is no comprehensive overview on the situation of unaccompanied minors, including undocumented and transit migrants. The project will contribute to improving and promoting the need for stronger protection of unaccompanied minors through establishing a broader information basis. The results of this project should provide a basis for analysing protective mechanisms for unaccompanied minor migrants in the enlarged EU.

An aim of this project is to analyse the position of unaccompanied minors as a vulnerable group in contemporary migration movements and to provide a basis for amplifying the competencies of the involved institutions in the new EU member states. Coordinator of the project University of Primorska will together with two other partners from Germany and Italy carry out ten country studies. The extent and quality of care and protection provided to unaccompanied minors in the field of national reception procedures as well as the social support programmes, such as access to education, labour market, health care and social services will be the focus. The country reports on Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Malta, Estonia, and Latvia shall provide a cross-country comparative view on the current tendencies regarding the status of unaccompanied minors, exploring their legal status, access to social support programmes and practical experiences.

The research will explore the degree of support provided to those unaccompanied minors applying for asylum as well as to undocumented minors who have either crossed the EU border by irregular means or who reside in the EU undocumented.

In addition, each partner will carry out expert interviews with relevant actors within this field for each country, which will be the basis for the country reports.

Finally, by comparing practices in new and old member states, good practices shall be identified and exchanged. In addition, Europe-wide cooperation and networking will be encouraged. At the end of the project, a European Conference will take place, at which the country reports and project results will be presented to a wide audience. The results of the project and all of the country reports will be also posted on the website of the University of Primorska.

ABOUT THE PROJECT
About the project

FINAL CONFERENCE
Conference program
Agenda of the conference
Conference report

RESEARCH REPORTS
MinOrs Malta
MinOrs Cyprus
MinOrs Slovakia
MinOrs Czech Republic
MinOrs Hungary
MinOrs Poland
MinOrs Slovenia
MinOrs Lithuania
MinOrs Latvia
MinOrs Estonia