Network for Children’s Rights starts the implementation of the program “Protection for All Minors” funded by the humanitarian organization INTERSOS.
It is a pioneering program that offers comprehensive support to unaccompanied minors in Greece who live in precarious or homeless conditions.
The program is carried out under the auspices of the National Emergency Response Mechanism for Unaccompanied Minors in Precarious Living Conditions (“National Mechanism”).
The aim of this program is to inform, support and empower unaccompanied minors in order to move away from precarious living conditions, by transferring them to accommodation for unaccompanied minors (shelters) or semi-independent living apartments.
“Protection for All Minors” innovates by introducing a new term/role, the so-called Attendant.
The Attendant will undertake the guidance and provision of psychosocial and legal support to unaccompanied minors, the conduct of individual or group sessions and the organization of external empowerment and socialization activities, based on their needs, with the aim of removing them from precarious living conditions.
The work of the Performers will be supported by a team of cultural mediators covering the following languages: Arabic, Farsi, Urdu and Bengali.
Simultaneously, the Attendants will have a daily presence at the Regional Asylum Offices (Alimos, Attica, Piraeus), with the aim of direct informing unaccompanied minors, who request international protection.
The Urban Safe Space, a place for unaccompanied minors, which will operate daily from 11:00 to 19:00, is located on Alkamenous str. 11a at Larissa Station.
About INTERSOS
INTERSOS is a humanitarian organization, which since 1992 has provided assistance to victims of armed conflicts, natural disasters and extreme exclusion, with a particular focus on protecting the most vulnerable people on the frontlines of emergencies. INTERSOS in Greece operates in Lesvos, Epirus, Thessaly and Attica.
About the Network for Children’s Rights
Network for Children’s Rights has been active since 2004 as a non-profit association, with the aim of promoting and defending the rights of children, as defined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC-1989). Network has experience and expertise in refugee, child protection, non-formal education, psychosocial support, professional training and support for children, young people and their families.
Since 2016, in collaboration with international and local organizations, Network has been active in the refugee and especially unaccompanied minor providing services initially in Reception Centers and then in the urban area of Athens, where they are implemented until today.
Since April 2021, Network has been selected as the main partner of the National Mechanism for the Tracing and Protection of Unaccompanied Children in Precarious Conditions, by the Special Secretary for the Protection of Unaccompanied Minors of the Department of Immigration and Asylum and the UNHCR.
