The deportation of unaccompanied minors from the EU: Family tracing and government accountability in the European Return Platform for Unaccompanied Minors (ERPUM) project

his report is the outcome of a joint effort between the University of Copenhagen and the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford to examine European governments’ plans to deport unaccompanied minors from the EU. With support from the Migration Industry Research Network, Danish Institute for International Studies, the workshop “The deportation of unaccompanied minors from the EU: family tracing and government accountability in the European Return Platform for Unaccompanied Minors (ERPUM) project” was convened at the Refugee Studies Centre (RSC) in Oxford on 3 May 2013. Its explicit aim was to subject the little-publicised ERPUM project to a comprehensive and multidisciplinary examination. The workshop consisted of two sections: first, it convened leading scholars from the disciplines of law, sociology, political science and philosophy, each addressing different aspects and challenges for the project, and thus complementing each other; and second, it featured a panel discussion with representatives from UNICEF, UNHCR and the Danish Refugee Council as well as the aforementioned speakers. It should be noted that both ERPUM and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) were invited to take part in the panel but that both declined. It proved to be an extremely fruitful workshop about a current issue of great political and moral controversy, with a packed, inquisitive and engaged audience consisting of academics, NGOs, policymakers and journalists.