Motion for a resolution - B9-0213/2022Motion for a resolution
B9-0213/2022
European Parliament

MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the EU’s protection of children and young people fleeing the war in Ukraine

5.4.2022 - (2022/2618(RSP))

to wind up the debate on the statements by the Council and the Commission
pursuant to Rule 132(2) of the Rules of Procedure

Patryk Jaki, Karol Karski, Vincenzo Sofo, Adam Bielan, Joachim Stanisław Brudziński, Elżbieta Kruk, Dace Melbārde, Andżelika Anna Możdżanowska, Veronika Vrecionová, Beata Kempa, Anna Zalewska, Dominik Tarczyński, Carlo Fidanza, Hermann Tertsch, Beata Mazurek, Valdemar Tomaševski, Bogdan Rzońca, Elżbieta Rafalska, Ryszard Czarnecki, Jadwiga Wiśniewska, Alexandr Vondra, Jacek Saryusz‑Wolski, Tomasz Piotr Poręba
on behalf of the ECR Group

Procedure : 2022/2618(RSP)
Document stages in plenary
Document selected :  
B9-0213/2022
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B9-0213/2022
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Texts adopted :

B9‑0213/2022

European Parliament resolution on the EU’s protection of children and young people fleeing the war in Ukraine

(2022/2618(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child of 20 November 1989,

– having regard to the European Convention on Human Rights,

– having regard to Article 24 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU,

– having regard to Council Recommendation (EU) 2021/1004 of 14 June 2021 establishing a European Child Guarantee[1],

– having regard to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of 13 December 2006,

– having regard to its resolution of 29 April 2021 on the European Child Guarantee[2],

– having regard to the European Pillar of Social Rights action plan,

– having regard to Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/382 of 4 March 2022 establishing the existence of a mass influx of displaced persons from Ukraine within the meaning of Article 5 of Directive 2001/55/EC, and having the effect of introducing temporary protection[3],

– having regard to Rule 132(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas according to the latest UNICEF report[4], as of 25 March 2022, over 3.7 million refugees have fled Ukraine since the beginning of the war;

B. whereas according to the latest UNICEF report[5], women and children make up 90 % of all refugees fleeing Ukraine;

C. whereas neighbouring countries are coping with a huge influx of refugees fleeing Ukraine, with over 2.2 million going to Poland, over 579 000 to Romania, over 379 000 to Moldova, close to 343 000 to Hungary, and more than 545 000 to other countries[6], including to the Czech Republic, which issued visas for 259 607 people, but is hosting more than 300 000 Ukrainian refugees[7];

D. whereas with such high figures, children, especially when unaccompanied, are at increased risk of violence, abuse and exploitation and there is an increased risk for children of going missing and falling victim to trafficking, especially when moving across borders;

E. whereas as of 25 March 2022, 6.5 million people, 2.5 million of whom are children, are internally displaced in Ukraine, with 153 children having been killed and 245 injured[8];

F. whereas more than 100 000 children, half of them with disabilities, live in institutional care and boarding schools in Ukraine[9];

G. whereas as of the end of 2020, more than 33 million children were forcibly displaced worldwide[10];

H. whereas the European Child Guarantee is an EU instrument whose objective is to prevent and combat poverty and social exclusion by guaranteeing free and effective access for children in need to key services such as early childhood education and care, educational and school-based activities, healthcare and at least one healthy meal per school day, and effective access for all children in need to healthy nutrition and adequate housing; whereas the objectives of the Child Guarantee should apply to all children in the Union;

I. whereas the children of migrants and refugees often fall between the gaps in national legislation, leading to children being left behind, which can exacerbate their social underdevelopment and lead to precariousness, as well as a greater risk of being marginalised, mistreated and abused;

J. whereas children growing up with a scarcity of resources and in precarious family situations are more likely to experience poverty and social exclusion, with far-reaching impacts on their development and later adulthood, lack access to adequate skills and have limited employment options, propagating a vicious circle of intergenerational poverty;

K. whereas child poverty has been identified by international organisations as both a potential cause and consequence of children’s rights violations, as a result of the impact it has on children’s ability to exercise their rights and the failure to uphold those rights;

L. whereas the issue of poverty and social exclusion are pervasive problems found across all societies, which are best addressed by comprehensive policies that are narrow in application but broad in scope targeting not only children but also their families and communities, and by prioritising investments in the creation of new opportunities and solutions; whereas all sectors of society must be involved in solving these problems, from local, regional, national and European authorities to civil society;

1. Recalls that the EU and all Member States have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and are therefore obliged to respect, protect and fulfil the rights laid down therein; stresses that in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the best interests of the child should always be a primary consideration in all decisions concerning children;

2. Calls on the Member States to treat every child fleeing first and foremost as a child;

3. Calls for the creation of safe passages and humanitarian corridors for children – both those who are unaccompanied and with their families – fleeing the conflict;

4. Urges that funding for Putin’s war be stopped and that projects such as Nord Stream 1 be terminated;

5. Condemns in the strongest possible terms the massacres of innocent civilians such as that in Bucha and calls for those responsible for Russian war crimes to urgently be held accountable;

6. Recalls the importance of the EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child, the Child Guarantee, the EU Strategy on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, as well as all existing EU legal instruments, including the Temporary Protection Directive[11], in supporting the Member States to help them address the specific needs of children fleeing the war;

7. Stresses the importance of information-sharing among Member States in full compliance with data protection rules and that registration from one Member State is recognised by another;

8. Emphasises that every child has the right to be protected from violence, exploitation and abuse and that EU Member States must ensure preventive measures, in particular for children at risk of trafficking and abduction, as well as support for children who have been exposed to violence; recalls that children in family environments are generally safer and better cared for and calls, therefore, for greater support for families and family reunion efforts;

9. Urges all parties to work closely with the Ukrainian authorities to expedite the evacuation of the children in institutions and to ensure that they are transferred to appropriate facilities in the Member States so that they can receive the appropriate care; underlines that the displacement procedures must take place with the consent of the Ukrainian authorities;

10. Stresses that evacuations should always be carried out respecting special measures that take into consideration the best interests of the child, and that the consent of their parents or persons responsible for their care should be granted;

11. Stresses the importance of putting in place an EU strategy to step up humanitarian action on the ground to rescue families and children, in particular vulnerable children, those in institutional care and foster care and those in hospital, as well as children with disabilities, war orphans and unaccompanied children, especially in combat zones;

12. Urges neighbouring EU Member States to promptly register children in national child protection systems to ensure the ability of exchanging necessary information on the location and initial registration of children; takes the view that children, in particular unaccompanied minors, should also be registered in all countries to which they travel, so as to facilitate family reunification when this is in their best interests in the future;

13. Stresses the importance of collecting disaggregated data in order to identify vulnerable groups coming from Ukraine including, but not limited to: children with disabilities, undocumented children and other non-Ukrainian children, stateless children or children at risk of statelessness;

Financial support to Member States

14. Recalls that the financial measures proposed by the EU to support the Member States that are on the front line of helping children and young people fleeing because of the war in Ukraine are insufficient; calls for the EU to support those Member States that are on the front line of helping children and young people fleeing because of the war in Ukraine with an amount that is not less than that given to Turkey (around EUR 8 billion);

15. Stresses that countries that host fewer refugees from Ukraine should share the costs related to managing the refugee influx with those Member States that are overburdened; recalls, in this regard, the proposal by Frans Timmermans from 2016 to pay EUR 250 000 for each person not admitted and stresses that this indicator should now be positive, i.e. EUR 250 000 for each person admitted, in order to ensure adequate living conditions for women and children fleeing because of the war in Ukraine;

16. Calls for the EU to launch a separate financial instrument that will allow for a quick and flexible transfer of funds, including for the purposes of integrating children and young people, particularly in terms of access to education and healthcare;

17. Stresses the importance of the local communities and municipalities as well as the civil society organisations on the front line for the reception and accommodation of children and calls on the Commission, therefore, to expedite the access to existing EU funds, such as the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and other emergency funds;

Reception conditions and vulnerable children

18. Highlights that children have the right and an innate need to be close to their parents or a constant caregiver; stresses the importance, therefore, of hosting unaccompanied children in family- and community-based placements to allow all children to grow up not in institutions but in families and communities, thereby preventing unnecessary family separation; stresses that where children are unaccompanied, foster care or other community-based care should be prioritised, and that where this is not possible, children should be placed in separate facilities from adults;

19. Calls on the Commission to help strengthen the child protection systems in the host countries in order to improve psychological support and access to basic services, such as education and health, and including vaccination, for children fleeing Ukraine, on an equal footing with children of the host countries;

20. Urges the Member States to put specific measures in place to adequately address the needs of children with disabilities, including adequate facilities and constant care by screened caregivers;

21. Calls on the Commission to help neighbouring Member States to carry out individual best interests assessments for children and, when they are accompanied by an adult, be it a family member, relative or private sponsor, to ensure that a proper vetting system of host families is in place to provide protection for children and ensure that they are transferred safely to their host families;

Integration

22. Recognises that Member States have a lot to do to integrate children, learners and teachers in their learning systems;

23. Urges Member States to quickly integrate learners of all ages into mainstream formal, informal and non-formal learning structures, to limit drop-outs and avoid the development of parallel systems leading to social exclusion and discrimination; acknowledges that linguistic barriers could hamper the enrolment in and performance at school of children fleeing Ukraine; calls on the Commission, therefore, to support Member States’ national authorities to offer special language courses and other special programmes to recruit Ukrainian teachers;

24. Acknowledges that digital tools can constitute very useful, flexible and tailor-made measures to provide timely educational continuity in such a context; reiterates, however, that these should be complementary to physical structures and insists that in-person education is crucial, particularly in the current context, where these children and young people require additional psychosocial support; calls for host countries to be given concerted support to step up access to adequate psychological care from experts capable of dealing with trauma related to war; insists, furthermore in this regard, on the importance of better appreciating the value of youth workers, youth organisations as well as non-formal and informal learning, given their essential educational and societal role;

25. Insist on the need for the automatic recognition of diplomas, qualifications and learning periods as these are instrumental for the smooth integration of those seeking refuge in Europe; urges the Member States, in view of the current circumstances, to show flexibility in cases where administrative documents are missing and to develop innovative and pragmatic ways forward;

26. Welcomes the Commission’s first attempts to facilitate the adaptation of existing EU funding programmes to support young people, such as Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps, and urges that these efforts should be maintained or strengthened in line with developments and for as long as is necessary; emphasises that under the reinforced Youth Guarantee all young people from the age of 15 should receive an offer for employment, education, traineeship or apprenticeship within a period of four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education;

27. Urges Member States to make full use of the financing possibilities and flexibility provided at EU level to integrate children and young people and students in learning structures, to provide language support and learning material and more;

28. Asks the Commission and the Member States to further pursue and adopt a consistent approach to face current and future challenges posed by the war on Ukraine, and not to forget the lessons learnt from the response to this war, but rather to act on them and seek solutions for refugees and asylum seekers of any origin;

29. Calls on the EU national coordinators now in place under the European Child Guarantee to ensure access to free, good-quality services for children fleeing Ukraine on an equal footing with other children in the host countries; highlights that the COVID-19 crisis and the influx of refugees following the war in Ukraine will further exacerbate the situation of children at risk of poverty and social inclusion or children who need access to quality care; calls on the Commission to urgently increase the funding of the European Child Guarantee with a dedicated budget of at least EUR 20 billion, to combat poverty affecting children and their families, and to contribute to the goal of reducing poverty by at least half in all Member States by 2030;

30. Calls on the Commission to boost investment in sustainable and quality jobs and social support for parents, and to implement targeted employment policies that ensure a decent standard of living, fair working conditions, a good work-life balance, an inclusive labour market and higher employability, including vocational education and training; highlights that free early childcare must be put in place to facilitate the participation of parents, in particular women, in the labour market and to support the social development of children;

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31. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the President, Government and Parliament of Ukraine, and the President, Government and Parliament of the Russian Federation.

 

Last updated: 5 April 2022
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