Consultative workshop on unaccompanied and separated migrant children, Budva, Montenegro, 25-26 January 2017
On 25 and 26 January 2017 in Buvda, Montenegro, IOM organized a consultative workshop on unaccompanied and separated migrant children. The workshop was organized within the framework of the regional project ”Enhancing Capacities and Mechanisms to Identify and Protect Vulnerable Migrants in the Western Balkans”, financed by the U.S. Department of State: Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration
During the workshop, Officials from the Border Police, Service for Foreigners, Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, Commissariat for Refugees and Migration, Social Work Center of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia actively participated and contributed to discussions, and openly shared good and bad experiences with their colleagues in the region.
The purpose of the workshop was to identify capacity needs of the countries in order to enhance procedures for identification and referral of unaccompanied and separated migrant children. Focus was put on exchange of experiences and regional information sharing and cooperation.
Furthermore, the workshop laid the groundwork for future regional cooperation and the development of regional guidelines and recommendations for identification and referrals of vulnerable categories of migrants, including unaccompanied and separated migrants children.
* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSC 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence