The EU Action Plan on Unaccompanied Minors (2010–2014) notes that the standards established by the CRC are at the heart of any action concerning unaccompanied minors. Article 19 of the CRC calls on states parties to take necessary measures to prevent all forms of violence against children, including abuse and neglect, as well as to protect and support child victims. Article 20 of the CRC requires states parties to offer special protection and assistance to all children who are temporarily or per-manently deprived of their family environment. The Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its General Comment No. 13 (2011) on The right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence, underlines the importance of a child rights-based and integrated child protection and support system. The prompt appointment of a guardian, when necessary, is therefore one of the most important practical measures to be taken to protect children (Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 6).
Article 16 of the Anti-Trafficking Directive (2011/36/EU) prescribes that Member States must take the necessary measures to ensure that, where appropriate, a guardian is appointed to unaccompanied child victims of trafficking. Moreover, Article 14 provides that Member States shall appoint a guardian or a representative for a child victim of trafficking from the moment the child is identified by the authorities and “where, by national law, the holders of parental responsibility are, as a result of a conflict of interests between them and the child victim, precluded from ensuring the child’s best interests and/or from representing the child”. The guardian should accompany the child throughout the entire process until a durable solution is found.
Historically, child protection has focused on particular issues or on specific groups of vulnerable children. Although this approach can be effective in serving the needs of a targeted group, it also has
“Violence against children demands an integrated (systemic, holistic) approach. […] It implies that all programmes and actions aimed at preventing and protecting children from violence, in the broad con-text of the promotion of the rights of the child, should operate across a range of disciplines and sectors”.
Source: Council of Europe (2009), Council of Europe’s policy guidelines on integrated national strategies for the protection of children from violence, Strasbourg, available at: www.coe.int/t/dg3/children/News/Guidelines/
including child victims of trafficking, may have multiple child protection problems.
Fragmented child protection responses may deal with one of these problems, but fail to provide a comprehensive solution. Focusing on selected issues alone, or on particular groups of children, is neither sustainable nor effective. In cases of child victims of trafficking, identification as a child victim or a child at risk of trafficking may occur at different points on a continuum of a child’s individual protection needs.
Therefore, increasingly, there is a move away at the European and global levels from fragmented issue-focused approaches to a systems approach to child protection.
This handbook adopts UNICEF’s inte-grated child protection approach.
Although designed with child victims of trafficking in mind, it suggests covering their specific needs primarily by taking measures which should be common to all guardianship arrangements. It also addresses how guardians should interact with other actors and elements of the child protection system, while seeking to ensure the best interests of the child are taken into consideration in all actions concerning the child.
An integrated child protection system places the child at the centre. It ensures that all essential actors and systems –
education, health, welfare, justice, civil society, community, family – work in concert to protect the child. Such an integrated approach can respond to a variety of situations an individual child can encounter. It must respond to the needs of children, including victims of trafficking within their country of nationality as well as those who have crossed international borders. The best interests of the child must be the primary or paramount consideration, as required by the CRC.
An integrated child protection system still needs issue-based expertise and responses, but places them within the context of the overall system.
National guardianship systems are an integral part of child protection systems. They The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) defines a child protection system as:
“the set of laws, policies, regulations and services needed across all social sectors – especially social welfare, education, health, security and justice – to support prevention and response to protection-related risks. These systems are part of social protection, and extend beyond it […]. Responsibilities are often spread across government agencies, with services delivered by local authorities, non-State providers, and community groups, making coordination between sectors and levels, including routine referral systems, a necessary component of effective child protection systems.”
Source: UNICEF (2008), UNICEF child protection strategy, E/ICEF/2008/5/Rev.1, 20 May 2008, available at:
www.unicef.org/protection/files/CP_Strategy_English.pdf
The guardian should be the person with the most comprehensive view of the child’s situation and individual needs. A guardian is in a unique posi-tion to connect the various authorities and the child. The guardian can also help to ensure continuity in the pro-tection of the child and to enable the child to participate effectively in all decisions affecting him or her, in line with the provisions of Article 12 of the CRC. Putting the guardian next to the child at the centre strengthens the guardian’s preventative as well as protective role (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Child protection systems and the role of the guardian
Health system
Community
Welfare system
Justice system Education system
Child protection system
Family
Guardianship system The UN General Assembly guidelines on children in
alternative care provide guidance on the protection and well-being of all children deprived of parental care or at risk of being so. The guidelines include provisions aiming to ensure that there is always a legally recognised person or body holding legal responsibility for the child when the parents are absent or not in a position to make day-to-day de-cisions deemed to be in the child’s best interests.
Source: General Assembly (2010), Resolution 64/142, Guide-lines for the alternative care of children, 24 February 2010, A/RES/64/142, available at: www.unicef.org/protec-tion/alternative_care_Guidelines-English.pdf
Guardians’ work must be guided by the four core principles set out in the CRC (Figure 3). States parties are required:
to respect and promote the right of the child to life and development, including mental, physical and psychological development; to give due weight to the child’s views based on his or her
age, maturity and developing capacities; to safeguard the child’s best interests as a primary consideration in all decisions and actions involving the child; and to respect fully and promote non-discrimination.
Figure 3: The four core principles of the CRC must guide the work of guardians
Source: FRA
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UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its General Comment No. 14 (2013) on the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration (Article 3, paragraph 1), provide comprehensive guidance for the best in-terest assessment and determination procedure and a list of key elements.