Peter Rodrigues and Mark Klaassen lecture on unaccompanied minors at Sofia University
On Saturday 3 December, Peter Rodrigues and Mark Klaassen delivered two guest lectures at Sofia University. They were invited by ELSA Bulgaria to speak at the Human Rights Academy 2022 that was devoted to the protection of the human rights of unaccompanied minors. The event was made possible by the Dutch Embassy in Sofia and was organised by Velina Stoyanova and Kristina Todorova of ELSA Bulgaria.
The lecture of Peter Rodrigues was titled ‘Unaccompanied Minors in International and EU Migration Law’. He discussed the different safeguards in EU law, human rights law and international children’s rights law that are relevant for unaccompanied minor asylum seekers. The title of Mark Klaassen’s lecture was ‘Unaccompanied minors and the question of age: going beyond chronological age?’. Klaassen discussed the focus on chronological age in the way the different international and European obligations are implemented and applied in the Dutch immigration law regarding unaccompanied minors. The other speaker was Prof. Velina Todorova, Member of the UN Committee of the Rights of the Child, who discussed the work of the Committee on unaccompanied minors.