HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION FOR VULNERABLE ASYLUM APPLICANTS

Venetikidou Aikaterini 10 ble asylum seekers such as unaccompanied children and victims of torture and traf- ficking is concerned, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child 35 also expressed concerns and suggested that Portugal develops mechanisms that ensure the victims receive the care and protection they are entitled to by law. According to CACR coor- dinator‘s statement ” very often minors do not acknowledge they are being exploited. This is also cultural, as it is common in African countries, where the majority of the UAM [at CACR] come from, to exchange work of any kind for housing and food as a respect to the personwho provides those ”. 3.2. Research Context: Relocation Programme of unaccompanied children from Greece As of March 17th 2020, the EUAgency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) invited theMem- ber States to participate in the relocation programme of 1,600 unaccompanied chil- dren from Greece. FRA conducted relevant interviews in 10 Member States which included: Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, the Neth- erlands and Portugal. Moreover, FRA 36 encouraged the Member States to decide as soon as possible on clear and realistic procedures, in order to avoid the lack of clarifi- cation and delays in the relocation process. This is not the first time that the Council of Europe (COE) has prompted the relocation of asylum seekers.Within the biennium period 2015-2017, COE initiated a European Emergency RelocationMechanism for re- location to support Italy and Greece as a result of the large number of incoming asy- lum seekers between 2014 and 2015 37 . Nearly 35,000 unaccompanied children were successfully relocated to 22 EUMember States, excluding UK andDenmark which de- cided not to participate. Other smaller scale binational transfers were performed be- tween Ireland and France and Italy, as well as Greece and Portugal 38 . 35. UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. (2019). Concluding observations on the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of Portugal , CRC/C/PRT/CO/5-6. Retrieved from: http://docstore.ohchr . org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=6QkG1d%2FPPRiCAqhKb7yhssuDH8wnwaNroEbar- jOtEzlUG82%2B8QuH83krKMin2vv%2FBU7vkUmIsFDiYHUAEG72qUHf4sG1V10RhN1mW- sOt6tvCIeOm9zz7V02l5KC9kBQ%2B. 36. FRA. (2020a). Relocation of unaccompanied children fromGreece . FRA input on the initiative of the European Commission and a group of Member States to relocate unaccompanied children. Re- trieved from: https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2020-relocation-unacco mpanied-children-from-greece_en.pdf. 37. FRA. (2020b). Relocating unaccompanied children: applying good practices to future schemes . Re- trieved from: https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2020-relocating-unaccom- panied-children_en.pdf. 38. METAdrasi. (2017, April 7) The exemplary cooperation and solidarity on the part of Portugal gives for the first time hope a chance for the unaccompanied minors . Retrieved from: https://metadrasi.org/ en/unaccompanied-minors-portugal/.