Problems of protecting children’s rights who are citizens of Ukraine enjoying temporary protection in EU countries

Abstract

The full-scale war in Ukraine caused a mass migration of its population and led to the increase in private relations complicated by a foreign element, which are the subject matter of private international law. The Council Directive 2001/55/EC of 20 July 2001 on minimum standards for giving temporary protection in the event of a mass influx of displaced persons and on measures promoting a balance of efforts between Member States in receiving such persons and bearing the consequences thereof provided the opportunity for citizens of Ukraine to receive the status of temporary protection on the territory of the EU countries. Cases of children being taken away from their accompanying persons or from their families have become a new challenge for Ukrainian children and their parents, who moved from Ukraine to the territory of the EU and who are under the temporary protection status. Those cases occur due to differences in legislation in matters of guardianship and parental responsibility. The author of the article has studied and systematized cases, when social services of the host country are authorized to act urgently in the interests of a child and take a child away from the family. The article provides general characteristics of circumstances that are reasons for taking a decision on the application of emergency measures by social services of EU countries to children who are citizens of Ukraine enjoying temporary protection in EU countries. It is established that the removal of children from their parents, guardians or authorized persons to accompany the child occurs under different circumstances and each situation is individual, but having systematized the cases, the author has identified the following reasons: staying in the EU unaccompanied by adults and on the grounds of “parental negligence” or “improper performance of parental duties”. The author analyses the legal status of an unaccompanied child under the national legislation of Ukraine and foreign national legislation of some EU countries. The legal status of unaccompanied children under the Directive 2001/55/EC and the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 is investigated. It is substantiated that the practice of recognizing Ukrainian children enjoying the temporary protection status as unaccompanied children is based on the following grounds: а) deficiency (inconsistency, non-recognition) of documents authorizing a person who accompanies a child for taking care of a child; в) non-compliance (non-recognition) of documents on the right to guardianship, issued in Ukraine, with the requirements of the host country that granted temporary protection; с) independent stay of a child on the EU territory, who is a citizen of Ukraine and has reached the age of 16, left Ukraine independently and is on the EU territory without parents and accompanying persons.