The migrant youth ambassadors from Defence for Children Greece (DCI) and youth experts from Young Perspectives (Netherlands) who were deprived of liberty before reaching the age of 18 shared with representatives of DG JUST and DG HOME following 8 key messages: 1) the need to invest in education for migrant children, 2) providing adequate housing to asylum seekers, 3) the importance of receiving guidance from a trained professional in order not to feel lost, 4) the need for children to grow up in a safe environment and the importance of professionals to conduct individual assessments for every child, 5) appointing guardians for children deprived of liberty and limit the risks of turn-outs due to their "bad work conditions and low salaries" (Nigel, Young Perspectives), 6) raising the minimum age for detention to 15 in all EU Member States because "children need to develop and grow in freedom, not in closed bars" (April, Young Perspectives), 7) The need for transitional measures when young people turn 18, and 8) the importance of tackling child poverty as this is the root of many issues that children have with the justice system.

Bakkary from DCI Greece emphasized that “policymakers need to make it easy for asylum seekers because in the end they are in the same society and it will backfire on governments if they don’t help them because they will start doing bad things, selling drugs, and doing things they don’t want to do” simply to get money to survive because they met the wrong people.

In the discussion, Marie-Cécile Rouillon (Commission Coordinator for the rights of the child) was asked if child participation should be mandatory, to which she replied that “not really because a child should never be obliged but it should be more an obligation for adults to provide the opportunity of child participation.” She shared that in almost all EU MS there is some sort of child participation system, with Children's Parliaments in some countries and children’s city councils in others. She specified that “we need to start with what exists”.

At the end of the Caravan, the youth marked this meeting as a wonderful encounter and were happy to see the efforts that the EC Rights of the Child team were making to push for change.

After this meeting, the participants of the Caravan had the opportunity to visit the European Parliament, and have discussions with Bertrand Bainvel from UNICEF and Soulayman Laqdim, the General Delegate for Children’s Rights. 

The Child friendly justice Network is composed of 31 organisations across 20 European countries, and its main objective is to ensure that justice systems are adapted to children’s needs, specificities, and vulnerabilities. More specifically, it aims to empower children to have their rights respected in legal proceedings, to have their voices heard in a participatory manner, and to strengthen their capacity to advocate for their own rights