Reception facilities and guardianship formally confirmed in partnership with Greece
This Thursday, Minister for Migration Ankie Broekers-Knol and her Greek colleagues Giorgos Koumoutsakos (Migration and Asylum) and Domna-Maria Michailidou (Social Affairs) formally confirmed their political agreements on achieving structural improvement of the guardianship system and the reception facilities for unaccompanied minor foreign nationals in Greece. This was set out in a Memorandum of Understanding, which was signed at a video conference attended by officials in The Hague and Athens.
The two countries reached agreement on the Netherlands providing support to Greece in developing a programme which will comprise supporting the guardianship system and improving reception facilities in mainland Greece, as well as providing guidance to unaccompanied minor foreign nationals. The signing ceremony was preceded by work taking place on the actual execution of the plans. In order to be able to implement these, it was necessary to first formally record the agreements in writing.
Partnership required
During the signing ceremony, the government representatives emphasised the importance of this shared project, as well as the need for quick and practical results. Both the Netherlands and Greece are making every effort to create reception facilities for unaccompanied minor foreign nationals and get the collaboration between the guardianship system experts off the ground as soon as possible.
Guardianship and reception facilities
It was arranged that the programme will run for three years. Broekers-Knol has allocated funds to the amount of 3.5 to 4 million euros. Experts from the Dutch foundation NIDOS will be working on the guardianship programme. The organisations that will be working on the reception facilities have yet to be selected. In any case, 48 reception locations will be created in mainland Greece, meaning that at least 500 unaccompanied minor foreign nationals will be able to receive help in Greece. The children will receive psychosocial care, education, health care, legal assistance and other forms of assistance required to ensure their well-being and development.