Identification of unaccompanied minor victims of human trafficking Guidelines and practice in hungary and in the european union

Abstract

This study focusses mainly on the identification procedures concerning underaged victims, and sepcifically third country national citizens in Hungary. Combating human trafficking has become a more and more highlighted field within the European Union since the early 2000s. After adapting related directives and strategies, Member States are obliged to provide appropriate assistance to victims and maintain an effective identification and referral mechanism. However two national strategies have been published since 2008 in Hungary, there are concerns regarding the practical implementation of the action plan outlined. Also the lack of a recent strategy and not defining minors as priority by clearly addressing the issue contributed to the critics worded by GRETA and TIP reports. An insufficient identification procedure has been revealed through expert interviews, although Hungary has implemented all the related directives and startegies. Important aspects of the specific situation of migrant children are presented in the paper to be considered in the elaboration of a more childcentered approach. There are no statistics yet on the number of identified victims in the country, and representatives of the National Coordination Office and the Immigration Office confirmed that amongst unaccompanied minors no victim has been identified by the end of February 2019. Another concern is the sustainability of the national system given that very low percentage of the costs covered by the State and improvements, means have been mainly funded through EU projects, therefor a stable and permanent solution, a highly responsive system is not a reality yet.