SUN Project: Safeguarding Unaccompanied and Separated Children’s Rights through the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights
The Foundation for Access to Rights – FAR is the leading organization in the Safeguarding Unaccompanied and Separated Children’s Rights through the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (SUN), funded by the Citizens, equality, rights, and values (CERV) Program of the European Commission, which started on April 1, 2023, and will be implemented for 24 months.
Partners in the project
- ARSIS, Greece
- Terres des Hommes, Romania
- Sirius Network, Belgium
- Volontarius, Italy
- CCAR, Spain
- NIDOS, the Netherlands
Aim and targetgroup
The SUN project aims at promoting the effective enjoyment of rights stipulated in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights by unaccompanied and separated refugee and migrant children.
The project foresees providing basic knowledge about the Charter guaranteed rights of unaccompanied and separated refugee and migrant children and how the rights are translated into the practices and everyday work with the children to frontline workers and professionals involved in caring for them.
The project targets all people working with or involved in caring for unaccompanied and separated refugee children, namely: lawyers, working in the field of legal representation of unaccompanied and separated refugee and migrant children; guardians; civil society organisations and independent human rights bodies representatives; social workers and frontline workers dealing with refugee and migrant children in various settings; school teachers, headmasters of schools and their associations, migrant and refugee communities and their associations, parents and family members from the refugee and migrant communities in the partner countries; university students.
Project components
- Developing a training course and a handbook regarding the protection of the fundamental rights of unaccompanied minors as enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. The handbook aims to raise awareness and make better use of the Charter.
- Facilitating the cooperation of the main actors who guide unaccompanied children at national level.
- Organizing a transnational train-the-trainer event and national trainings based on the handbook. Attention is also paid to strategic litigation based on the Charter, which make a difference in addressing deep-seated systemic and systematic problems. Its impact could lead to changes in Member State jurisprudence and practices, changes in the law and changes in long-term social attitudes. Fundamental rights belong to all people on the territory of the European Union. That is why it is important that professionals who work with unaccompanied minors gain knowledge about the use of strategic litigation. It is important that not only lawyers are trained in strategic litigation, but also other actors as studies show that a multidisciplinary approach to strategic litigation leads to better results.
- Establish a sustainable mentoring program for the transfer of knowledge and skills between partners, with the aim of improved transnational cooperation and improved protection of UMA rights through the Charter.
The closing activities of the project will be held in Sofia, Bulgaria, in the beginning of 2025. They will include a seminar whose participants will be professionals and experts from the whole European Union and a closing exchange visit of the project partners.
Newsletter
Comparative Report
Practitioner’s Handbook
This Handbook is developed under the SUN project and promotes the effective enjoyment of rights stipulated in the CFREU by unaccompanied and separated refugee and migrant children (UASC). It reflects the years-long practical and academic experience of project partners Foundation for Access to Rights – FAR in Bulgaria (lead organization), ARSIS in Greece, Terre des Hommes in Romania, Nidos in the Netherlands, Sirius Network, based in Belgium, Volontarius in Italy, and Comissió Catalana d’Acció pel Refugi (CCAR) in Spain.
Contact details
Fleur van der Heyden
Policy Officer European Cooperation Unit Nidos
+31616135013
f.vanderheyden@nidos.nl
