Friday, March 29

UNICEF Spain warns about trafficking networks that threaten Ukrainian children


  • Gustavo Suárez Pertierra asks that the “very positive advances” seen in “immigration matters” in recent weeks “arrive to stay”

UNICEF Spain has warned of the increased risk of trafficking and exploitation run by the boys and girls who are fleeing the war in Ukraine, and has cited a series of recommendations to prevent these situations from occurring and ensure that any decision made is correct for minors. “The war in Ukraine has unleashed a wave of solidarity in Europe, also in Spain. Thousands of volunteers have moved to the borders and many families offer to take in children and families from Ukraine, something that moves us deeply”, has explained the president of UNICEF Spain, Gustavo Suárez Pertierra.

Thus, he has emphasized that all these offers and this help must be “channeled in an organized and coordinated manner.” “We may be putting at risk the most vulnerable people affected by this war: the children who come from Ukraine,” she said.

Gustavo Suárez Pertierra appeared this Wednesday before the Commission on the Rights of Children and Adolescents of the Congress of Deputies, where he acknowledged that great efforts are being made at the state, regional and local levels. “We are facing an unparalleled opportunity to permanently strengthen Spain’s response to the care, protection and social integration needs of migrant and refugee children, especially in contexts of migratory humanitarian contingencies”, he indicated.

According to the organization, child protection, refugee reception, education and mental health systems need to be strengthened to meet these goals. “This is perhaps the most important proposal of UNICEF Spain in recent years in the area of ​​migration. In just a few weeks we are seeing very positive progress, but these advances have to come to stay,” Suárez stressed. Thus, she has recalled that it is necessary to clarify some regulatory frameworks and strengthen “urgently” the supervisory mechanisms of the Public Administrations on the different reception formulas in the private sphere, both for unaccompanied boys and girls and for families.

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Likewise, UNICEF has warned of the challenges faced by refugee families arriving in our country: access to the asylum procedure or the detection and registration of all children who arrive by air and land, whether they are alone or accompanied. For this reason, it has requested that supervision of foster families be guaranteed or that the resources of the refugee reception system guarantee the right to family life and attention to the needs of children. He also stressed that the economic and social vulnerability of the Ukrainian families who already resided in Spain and who are welcoming their recently arrived relatives cannot be ignored.

The organization has also shown its concern about the arrival of children unaccompanied or with adults who are not their legal guardians, which is a challenge for the child protection systems of the autonomous communities, which are considering measures more adapted to the reality that is presented, but without reducing protection. “The highest priority is registration, permit management, and facilitating the most immediate reception and care for refugee children and families arriving from Ukraine to prevent them from being left alone, unprotected or, in the most serious cases, end up being victims of trafficking,” UNICEF stressed.

In this sense, UNICEF Spain has considered that this situation represents an opportunity to permanently strengthen four systems: the refugee reception system, the child protection system, the response of the educational system to migrant and refugee children, and the response of the health system, especially with regard to mental health and emotional well-being. He also mentioned that in the educational field it is essential to guarantee specific accompanying measures to achieve educational integration, ensure a bridge with the system of origin and good coordination between educational centers and those of the refugee reception network.

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In the health field, it is necessary to be “especially attentive” to the possible needs related to mental health and emotional well-beingsuch as those caused by trauma associated with war, sudden uprooting, separation from friends and family, lack of information or communication difficulties.

Finally, in the case of social protection, it is necessary to guarantee that the deadlines, obstacles and barriers to receiving the economic aid to which Ukrainian refugees can access are reduced.


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