HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION FOR VULNERABLE ASYLUM APPLICANTS

Banti-Markouti, V. & Sounoglou, M. (Eds.) XXIV in the national law and its practical implementation inMember states such as Greece, Portugal, Germany. More particularly, the aim of this book is to give an overview of the legal framework for the specific categories of vulnerable asylum seekers, then to present and explain the challenges of its implementation in practice and give recommendations for pro- gressive changes for enhancing the protection of vulnerable asylum applicants taking always into consideration their specific profile and needs. Given the ongoing movement of populations around the globe and towards Europe in particular, the journey of the research in this field remains always a work in pro- gress. As the situation in the countries of origin is constantly evolving, the identifica- tion and protection of vulnerable individuals among the numbers of asylum seekers remains challenging. Finally, we take the opportunity to kindly thank all researchers for their contribu- tions to the book, the professionals who shared their views and their experience from their everyday practice, the critical readers Dr. Katerina Papadopoulou and Dr. Efharis Mashca for their constructive remarks and suggestions, Prof Maria Papadopoulou for her insights in the Introduction and Prof Eleni Retymniotaki for highlighting the de- manding interdisciplinary ongoing dialogue in the Preamble. We are also grateful to Ms. Evelyn Regner, Chair of the EU Parliament Committee onWomen's Rights and Gender Equality, for her valuable review. Last but not least the editor Legal Library (NOMIKI BIBLIOTHIKI) for the excellent cooperation. Structure of the book The book is divided in two parts. In the first part we talk about the understanding of protection of human rights in practice and we move to a set of three contributions looking at unaccompanied minors and asylum process and the right to family reuni- fication. Firstly, KaterinaVenetikidou’s contribution consists of a survey, which she conducted to explore the good practices and challenges in the Asylumprocedures for unaccom- panied minor applicants in Portugal. The researcher suggests a review and analysis of policies and practices for unaccompanied minor asylum applicants with main fo- cus on the procedures in Portugal. The research focuses on the main shelter of unac- companied minors in Portugal. Secondly, Demetra Gana presents the implementation of asylum processes for un- accompanied minors by the Greek Asylum Service. There is a research part in which the researcher after interviewing practitioners in the field tries to analyze the needs and expectations as well as the main challenges that occur in order to suggest pos- sible improvements.