Jean Monnet MARS: International protection and rights of minors in the EU
The three years Jean Monnet Module MARS “Migration, Asylum and Rights of Minors” (2019-2022) aims at spreading the knowledge of EU law on the protection of migrant children rights through different type of teaching activities and events, both for students and professionals.
In recent years, the number of children in migration arriving in the European Union, many of whom are unaccompanied, has increased significantly and protecting all children in migration, regardless of status and at all stages of migration, is a priority for both EU and its Member States.
Despite many studies devoted to migration and asylum issues, the protection of migrant children rights deserves a broader investigation in the academic fields, both in research activities and in training courses for students and professionals. In particular, regarding these latter, the European Commission stated that “People working with and for children (such as border guards, reception centre workers, guardians) are not always adequately trained in child protection and rights of the child and in communicating with children in a gender, age and context-appropriate manner” (see the European Commission, Communication on the protection of children in migration, 2017).
For this reason, the MARS Module aims to enrich the knowledge of European Union law in Immigration and Asylum Studies, organizing different type of training activities, among which the intensive training course “International protection and rights of minors in the European Union”. Teaching activities will benefit from different approaches, combining legal theory with practical application and case study sessions. Furthermore, the academic perspective will be enriched by the experiences of professionals working in the field of migration and asylum.
