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Reply to Recommendation | Doc. 14852 | 28 March 2019
Family reunification of refugees and migrants in the Council of Europe member States
1. The Committee of Ministers has carefully
considered Recommendation
2141 (2018) of the Parliamentary Assembly on “Family
reunification of refugees and migrants in the Council of Europe
member States” and Resolution
2243 (2018) related thereto. It invites member States
to give due consideration, as appropriate, to the individual recommendations
set out in paragraph 1.
2. With regard to the more general theme of family reunification
of refugees and migrants, the Committee of Ministers underlines
the necessity to protect the right to respect for family life as
recognised by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights
and the relevant case-law of the Court. It would also recall Article 19(6)
of the European Social Charter which requires Contracting States
to facilitate the family reunion of migrant workers who legally
reside in the country, and the relevant conclusions of the European
Committee of Social Rights, specifying
that this provision also applies to refugees. The Committee of Ministers
would also draw attention to several of its recommendations in which
family reunification of refugees and migrants have been addressed.
3. With reference to the specific recommendation outlined in
para 1.1 of the Recommendation, the Committee of Ministers considers
the work of the Special Representative of the Secretary General
for Migration and Refugees highly relevant in this regard. This
work includes the drafting of a handbook on the standards and good
practices for restoring family links and family reunification. The
handbook is aimed at professional practice across a wide cross-section
of stakeholders working with children. Complementing the HELP course on
refugee and migrant children, the handbook has the purpose to improve
the professionals’ capacity in processing family reunification claims
and should therefore serve as an important tool for member States
in effectively implementing the right to family reunification, as
appropriate.
4. The Committee of Ministers would also refer to an issue paper
prepared by the Commissioner for Human Rights in 2017 which comprehensively
addressed the issue of family reunification of refugees in Europe as
a pressing human rights issue. In the paper, the Commissioner for
Human Rights calls on all Council of Europe member States to uphold
their human rights obligations and ensure the practical effectiveness
of the right to family reunification for refugees and other beneficiaries
of international protection. This issue paper contains 36 recommendations
to assist states in (re-)examining their laws, policies and practices
relating to family reunification for refugees.
5. As regards the issue of human trafficking emphasised in the
Assembly Recommendation
2141(2018), the Committee of Ministers notes that the
Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings
specifies the additional measures of protection and prevention required
to ensure that the rights of child victims of trafficking are effectively
protected by States. Article 10, paragraph 4 of the Convention provides
that as soon as an unaccompanied child is identified as a victim,
each Party shall: (a) provide for representation of the child by
a legal guardian, organisation or authority which shall act in the
best interests of that child; (b) take the necessary steps to establish
his/her identity and nationality; (c) make every effort to locate
his/her family when this is in the best interests of the child.
The Committee would highlight the on-going work of the Group of Experts
on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) in the field
which has stressed the importance of family reunification as a protective
measure for unaccompanied and separated children and a way to prevent disappearances
in several of its country evaluation reports. In recent years GRETA
has prioritised and outlined targeted prevention measures against
the human trafficking of unaccompanied or separated minors and irregular
migrant children.
6. Finally, the Committee of Ministers strongly supports the
work of the International Red Cross and Red Cross and Red Crescent
societies and encourages member States to co-operate, as appropriate,
with those bodies in their action for finding missing family members
of refugees.