UN Special Rapporteur and the Lithuanian Ombudsperson for Child Rights contributed important inputs to the expert meeting case management

Vilnius, September 2014

Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, UN Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and Edita Žiobienė, Ombudsperson for Child Rights, Lithuania.

In 2014 and 2015, the Children’s Unit at the Council of Baltic Sea States (CBSS) Secretariat is organising five expert meetings in cooperation with partners in Europe and beyond with support from the European Return Fund. The two previous expert meetings addressed the best interest assessment/determination and the standards, procedures and safeguards in returns and transfers. Reports and documents from these meetings are available here.

The third expert meeting convened in Vilnius, Lithuania on 9-10th September and focused on case examples from countries of destination and origin – and models for follow-up and return.

Approximately 50 experts attended, representing local and national authorities, UN Agencies, national and international NGOs, service providers and practitioners from the Nordic and Baltic States and Member States of the European Union and the Council of Europe. They participated in giving valuable input to the understanding of progress and challenges in transfer and return cases of children. For more information about the experts who attended please see the press release for the meeting.

Organisers: Council of the Baltic Sea States Secretariat (CBSS), the Latvian State Border Guard, Stockholm Social Emergency Center, the Lithuanian State Child Protection and Adoption Service. The project has been granted funds by the European Commission’s Return Fund and CBSS.