EMN National Contact Point of Finland organized a seminar on the processes which follow the status determination of minors who have entered Finland without the accompaniment of an adult. The Seminar was held on 11 October in Helsinki and it gathered numerous representatives from Finnish governmental bodies, institutions and NGOs, as well as from international entities. The Seminar was attended also by a representative from the Ministry of demography, family, youth and social policy and the Croatian EMN National Contact point.
The Seminar was opened by the Director of Immigration at the Ministry for Employment and the Economy who pointed out the importance of interinstitutional cooperation in questions regarding unaccompanied minors.
After that, a consultant from the ICF (Inner City Fund – EMN’s service provider) presented the main findings of the EMN study “Approaches to Unaccompanied Minors Following Status Determination in EU plus Norway”.
All of the speakers, irrespective of the institution that they have represented, highlighted that child’s best interest should be a priority during the whole process and that individual approach should be used. As the Finnish Ombudsman for children emphasized, nobody should presume what child wants. Main issues that occur when dealing with unaccompanied minors, such as children gone missing or extreme introversion which hinders the process of integration, could be prevented by building a strong connection between a minor and assigned caregiver. An important example was given by the service director of the Finnish SOS Children Village who talked about their work and pointed out the importance of family surrounding and child-friendly atmosphere. He also introduced two young immigrants (age 16 and 20) who shared their experience of integration, learning the language, striving to become a part of the Finnish society.
Majority of the speakers and participants at the Seminar were pleading against the child detention, which should be the last option for every minor. Also, return should take place only if it is completely safe for the minor. The Seminar was concluded with the panel discussion on the integration of unaccompanied minors in Finland.
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