This report explores the key features of guardianship systems put in place to cater for the needs of all children in need of protection, including child victims and those at risk of becoming victims of trafficking in human beings or of other forms of exploitation. The research covers four specific areas, namely the type of guardianship systems in place, the profile of appointed guardians, the appointment procedures, and the tasks of the guardians.

For asylum and return (i.e. expulsion) procedures to be implemented effectively, people need to be at the disposal of the authorities so that any measure requiring their presence can be taken without delay. To achieve this, EU Member States may decide to hold people in closed facilities. Less intrusive measures, which are usually referred to as alternatives to detention, reduce the risk that deprivation of liberty is resorted to excessively.

In view of the increasing numbers of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants entering the EU, the European Commission asked FRA to collect data about the fundamental rights situation of people arriving in those Member States that have been particularly affected by large migration movements. The countries covered in 2015 are Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy and Slovenia.

The right to health is a basic social right. However, its understanding and application differs
across the European Union (EU) Member States, which results in different healthcare services
being offered to migrants in an irregular situation. This summary looks into the potential costs of providing migrants in
an irregular situation with timely access to health screening and treatment, compared to
providing medical treatment only in emergency cases.

This report aims to estimate the economic cost of providing timely access to screening and treatment for migrants in an irregular situation, compared with providing treatment only in emergency cases. It presents an economic model to calculate such costs for two medical conditions: hypertension and prenatal care. To better illustrate its application in practice, the model is applied to three European Union (EU) Member States – Germany, Greece and Sweden.

Im Jahr 2014 stellten die Mitgliedstaaten und Institutionen der Europäische Union (EU) eine Reihe von rechtlichen und politischen
Maßnahmen vor, um die Grundrechte in der EU zu gewährleisten. Trotz dieser Bemühungen bleibt immer noch viel
zu tun. In einigen Bereichen ist die Situation beunruhigend: die Zahl der MigrantInnen, die gerettet oder auf See festgenommen
wurden, als sie die Grenzen der EU versuchten zu erreichen, vervierfachte sich seit 2013; mehr als ein Viertel der Kinder
in der EU sind von Armut oder sozialer Ausgrenzung bedroht; immer mehr politische Parteien verwenden fremdenfeindliche
und gegen MigrantInnen gerichtete Rhetorik in ihren Kampagnen, was dazu führen kann, dass mehr Personen anfälliger
werden, Opfer von Straftaten oder Hassverbrechen zu werden.

Les États Membres et les institutions de l’Union européenne (UE) ont introduit en 2014 un nombre de mesures juridiques et politiques pour garantir la protection des droits fondamentaux dans l’UE. Malgré ces efforts, beaucoup reste à accomplir, et il est clair que dans certains domaines la situation est alarmante : le nombre de migrants sauvés ou appréhendés en mer alors qu’ils essayaient de rejoindre les frontières de l’UE a quadruplé par rapport à 2013 ; plus d’un quart des enfants dans l’UE encourent un risque de pauvreté ou d’exclusion sociale ; et un nombre croissant de partis politiques recourent dans leurs campagnes à une rhétorique xénophobe et hostile aux immigrés, ce qui peut potentiellement augmenter le risque de certaines personnes d’être victimes de criminalité ou de crimes de haine.

European Union (EU) Member States and institutions introduced a number of legal and policy measures in 2014 to safeguard fundamental rights in the EU. Notwithstanding these efforts, a great deal remains to be done, and it can be seen that the situation in some areas is alarming: the number of migrants rescued or apprehended at sea as they were trying to reach Europe’s borders quadrupled over 2013; more than a quarter of children in the EU are at risk of poverty or social exclusion; and an increasing number of political parties use xenophobic and anti-immigrant rhetoric in their campaigns, potentially increasing some people’s vulnerability to becoming victims of crime or hate crime.

Der Situation an Grenzübergangsstellen der Landgrenzen zur Einreise in die EU wird weniger Auf‑
merksamkeit gewidmet als der Lage an Europas südlichen Seegrenzen, wo das Leben von Migran‑
ten und Migrantinnen gefährdet ist. An den Landgrenzen werden die Grenzübertrittskontrollen von
Drittstaatsangehörigen im Allgemeinen routinemäßig durchgeführt und verlaufen ohne Zwischen‑
fälle. Die Forschungsarbeiten der FRA zeigen jedoch, dass es auch hier eine Reihe von Herausfor‑
derungen gibt, die die Grundrechte von Reisenden beeinträchtigen. Diese reichen von respektloser
Behandlung bis hin zur Nichterkennung von Personen, die Schutz benötigen. Solche Herausforde‑
rungen dürfen nicht außer Acht gelassen werden.

La situation aux points de passage frontaliers terrestres de l’UE a bénéficié de moins d’attention
que celle aux frontières maritimes méridionales de l’Europe, où la vie des migrants est menacée.
Bien que les recherches de terrain de la FRA aient révélé que les contrôles aux frontières s’effectuent,
dans l’ensemble, de façon routinière et sans incident, les voyageurs peuvent rencontrer des
difficultés ayant une incidence sur leurs droits fondamentaux, qui ne devraient pas être négligées.

The situation at land border crossing points into the EU has received less attention than
Europe’s southern sea borders, where migrants’ lives are at risk. Although FRA research
shows that land border checks of third-country nationals are generally conducted routinely
and take place without incident, a number of challenges affect travellers’ fundamental
rights.

Worker exploitation is not an isolated or marginal phenomenon. But despite its pervasiveness in everyday life, severe labour exploitation and its adverse effects on third-country nationals and EU citizens - as workers, but also as consumers - have to date not received much attention from researchers.