Addressing the Needs of Unaccompanied Minors (UAMs) in Greece

The purpose of this report is to share IOM’s experience in implementing the programme “Addressing the needs of unaccompanied minors (UAMs) in Greece” which ran for 21 months from February 2013 to October 2014 and was funded 90% by the Emergency Funds of the European Return Fund and 10% by the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Sweden. Formulating common procedures to assist unaccompanied children wishing to return home and ensuring that all decisions and actions took into consideration the best interest of the child were among the key objectives of this programme. The programme’s implementation included six different phases.

Phase one aimed at reaching out to minors and informing them about the programme’s activities. As such, IOM Greece collaborated closely with two nongovernmental organisations: ARSIS and PRAKSIS. IOM’s staff and the organisations’
personnel approached 1206 minors in different situations, namely in protective environment (reception centres for unaccompanied children), while living in abandoned buildings or placed in pre-removal and detention centres.

The primary concern was to meet the children’s basic needs, therefore, apart from the provision of information with regards their rights in Greece, they were also given a hygiene kit, depending on whether they were identified and the conditions that they were living in. Furthermore, referrals were made either for accommodation or other types of service, such as medical aid. Through that process, IOM gained valuable information for the profiles of the unaccompanied children in Greece which were useful for designing tailored made protection mechanisms and services.