Description
The Platform Minors in Exile is a national, bilingual platform of more than 55 organisations. The Platform coordinates the actions of professionals working directly with unaccompanied minors and accompanied children but who are in a precarious administrative situation or even undocumented. The Platform was created following the observation that these children cannot fully enjoy their fundamental rights due to their legal, social and administrative situation. By means of coordination, the Platform aims to improve their protection and social integration. Moreover, it aims to improve the expertise of its partners and the wider public through the animation of working groups, the conduct of research and the organisation of trainings, seminars etc. They work to raise the awareness of minors themselves about their rights. Finally, the Platform monitors the legislative and institutional framework and formulates recommendations and proposals that guarantee respect for the fundamental rights of foreign minors. Funds are provided by Brussels regional government and Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles. In the past, they have also received EU (AMIF) and private funding.
- Access to compulsory education
- Access to health care
- Children complete compulsory education
- Children remain in (formal) education beyond compulsory levels / Access to (formal) non-compulsory education
- Children's legal status
- Children's life satisfaction / happiness
- Children's sense of belonging
- Institutions
Evaluation ex post
One main activity is the organisation of working group meetings on unaccompanied and accompanied minors in the context of migration. Other "Platform meetings" on unaccompanied minors in the context of migration have been installed by the Délégué général des droits de l'enfant whose meetings assemble professionals from the field and representatives of authorities. The Fondation Joseph Denamur (Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles) has installed 3 working groups on unaccompanied minors, focussing on education, family reunification and transition from reception centres to autonomy/housing market.
Projects’ deliverables
Internal communication member organisations observers: Zoom, e-mail, Google Groups, meetings in person/round table meetings.
External communication: website, Facebook page, Twitter, reports.
Reproducibility
The concept of our project is potentially objective to being replicated on different levels (federal/regional/local). Our Platform has the ambition to reassemble people on a federal level (professionals from the 3 regions of Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia).
Motivation for the submission
The Platform has worked with ACE providing information, and insight in the area of migrant children, and acted as a MACRO participant in WP1.
