Save the Children in the Northwestern Balkans, Refugee Aid Serbia (RAS) and Centre for Youth Integration (CYI), organisations dedicated to helping children and vulnerable groups have joined the Coalition for the Protection of Refugee and Migrant Children from abuse and neglect. The Coalition was founded in 2020 with the aim of ensuring safety of one of the most vulnerable groups of children.

The Coalition works to educate on the risks of abuse and violence which the refugee and migrant children are exposed to. It also conducts lawsuits in specific instances of violence, it improves the systemic identification of the abused and neglected children and it offers legal protection. In addition, the Coalition continuously combats the spread of xenophobia and racial, religious and national hate, which even children aren’t spared from.

The Coalition was founded by the IDEAS Centre for Research and Social Development, the Crisis Response and Policy Centre (CRPC) and the Danish Refugee Council (DRC). They were soon joined by other partner organisations, already recognised for their aid and support of refugee, migrant and asylum-seeking children. Among those organisations are Indigo, the Network of Psychosocial Innovation (PIN) and the Humanitarian Centre for Integration and Tolerance (HCIT).

Any service, institution and government organisation, as well as other institutions which provide aid for the refugee and migrant children, may become members of the Coalition, as long as protection from abuse and neglect falls under their perview. Hence we invite all the relevant parties to join us. We are certain that our combined work will help ensure equal protection standards for all the children in Serbia – regardless of their country of origin, nationality, faith, skin colour, gender, health or any other personal attribute.