{"id":7961,"date":"2020-01-03T14:05:32","date_gmt":"2020-01-03T12:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rchumanities.gr\/?p=7961"},"modified":"2021-12-14T13:47:09","modified_gmt":"2021-12-14T11:47:09","slug":"spourdalakis-gousis-prepi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rchumanities.gr\/en\/spourdalakis-gousis-prepi\/","title":{"rendered":"“The Condition of Unaccompanied Children in the Athens City Centre: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Institutional Framework”"},"content":{"rendered":"
Research Proposal<\/span>Conference<\/span>Research Results<\/span>Short bios<\/span>Publications<\/span><\/div>
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Summary of the Research Proposal<\/h4>\n

This research seeks to examine the principle of the Best Interest of the Child and how it can ensure the highest protection standard for unaccompanied children (UAC) in the Athens city centre. Focusing on Greece\u2019s largest municipality, it aims at \u201ctranslating\u201d this principle into concrete practices in law, policy and urban governance and as a method of cooperation and intervening. Deploying the interdisciplinarity of our research group, in the first part the national legislation, case law and everyday practice will be examined questioning whether they fulfil international human rights obligations. Combining, through the method of critical legal reflection, everyday realities of human rights practitioner with the principle of the Best Interest of the Child, gaps between theory and practice will be rethought building on the local and international experience on ensuring UAC rights through the innovative advocacy tool of \u201cstrategic litigation\u201d. In the second part, Athens Municipality is viewed through the lens of the role that the metropolitan urban centres are called upon undertaking in the wider context of international governance transformations. Therefore, through the method of content analysis 5 development projects for the Athens city centre will be examined based on both the amplitude of their survey and the impact they seem to have up to the present day. Within these projects, we will focus on examining the way the refugee\/migrants question is approached and consequently the way the Municipality draws its main directions, as well as investigating whether and how the issue of UAC is specifically developed. Aiming at a deeper understanding of the contemporary governance landscape and the interconnections between the different institutions responsible for UAC, semi-structured interviews will be conducted with social workers and lawyers working in NGOs, as well as with Athens Municipality officers, responsible for Migration issues. This research will lead to a report with propositions which will be discussed and completed through a workshop including researchers, institutions (Athens Municipality, NGOs etc) and representatives of migrant and refugee communities, for a constructive engagement between academics, experts and key actors in the field. Interdisciplinarity gives us the opportunity to combine legal tactics with the prioritisation of the Best Interest of the Child in the wider urban policies, as a de facto element of the Right to the City. This approach enriches the broader discussion on strategic litigation, urban planning and welfare system and can contribute to the implementation of best practice initiatives, beyond spatial and social segregations. The resulting Final Report will be distributed to the related institutions as a toolkit for informing practice and contributing to policy development.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

To view the conference\u2019s program in Greek, click here<\/a> and browse to the tab \u201c\u0397\u03bc\u03b5\u03c1\u03af\u03b4\u03b1\u201d. <\/div>\n
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Research: \u201cThe Condition of Unaccompanied Children in the Athens City Centre: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Institutional Framework\u201d<\/h4>\n

Research Group: Michalis Spourdalakis, Kostas Gousis, Alkistis Prepi<\/h5>\n

The research project “The Condition of Unaccompanied Children in the Athens City Centre: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Institutional Framework” was funded by the Research Centre for the Humanities (RCH) for the year 2020<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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This report examines the principle of the Best Interest of the Child and how it can ensure the highest protection standard for unaccompanied children. It aims at \u201ctranslating\u201d this principle into concrete practices in law, policy and urban governance, mainly focusing on Athens, Greece\u2019s largest municipality. Deploying the interdisciplinarity of our research group, in the first part we present findings related to policies and procedures in dealing with unaccompanied children seeking asylum. \u00a0Combining, through the method of critical legal reflection, everyday realities of human rights practitioners with the principle of the Best Interest of the Child, gaps between theory and practice will be rethought questioning whether international human rights obligations are fulfilled. To this end, the report provides an example of ensuring the children\u2019s fundamental rights through the innovative advocacy tool of \u201cstrategic litigation\u201d against the detention of unaccompanied migrant minors in police cells by Greek authorities. In addition, it offers critical insights concerning the far-reaching consequences of the medical age assessment of unaccompanied minor asylum seekers. In the second part, Athens Municipality is viewed through the lens of the role that the metropolitan urban centres are called upon undertaking in the wider context of international governance transformations. Therefore, through the method of content analysis 5 developmental plans for the Athens city centre are examined based on both the amplitude of their survey and the impact they seem to have up to the present day for the Municipality\u2019s policies. Within these plans, we focus on examining the way the refugee\/migrants question is approached and consequently the way the Municipality draws its main directions, as well as investigating whether and how the issue of unaccompanied minors is specifically developed. This report argues for the prioritisation of the Best Interest of the Child in the wider urban policies, as a de facto<\/em> element of the Right to the City. This approach enriches the broader discussion on strategic litigation, urban planning and welfare system and can contribute to the implementation of best practice initiatives, beyond spatial and social segregations.<\/p>\n

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The full academic report for this research’s results is available in Greek. To view it, click here<\/a> and browse to the tab \u201c\u0391\u03c0\u03bf\u03c4\u03b5\u03bb\u03ad\u03c3\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1 \u0388\u03c1\u03b5\u03c5\u03bd\u03b1\u03c2\u201d. <\/div>\n

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Michalis Spourdalakis<\/strong> is a Professor at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, where he teaches since 1991 and Dean at the School of Economic and Political Science at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He has studied political science and public administration in Athens and Canada. He defended his PhD thesis in Canada (Carleton University, 1986), where he continued as a post-Doctoral Fellow of the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada \/SSHRC (1989 \u2013 1991) and as Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, Bishop’s University (Lennoxville, Quebec, Canada). He has or\/and is teaching, at undergraduate and postgraduate level, in the following departments: Communication and Media (University of Athens), Athens University Law School, Department of Early Childhood Education (School of Education, University of Athens), School of Architecture (National Technical University of Athens), Bishop\u2019s University (Lennoxville, Quebec, Canada) and University of Manitoba (Canada). He is a member of the European University Institute in Florence, of the Board of Nikos Poulantzas Institute and of the Institute for Alternative Politics (ENA). He is a member of the editorial board of the Greek Political Science Review and of Socialist Register (London, Merlin Press). His current research interests focus on issues of political parties theory, greek politics, state theory, european left as well as a series of issues that result from the transformations of the social organisation model.<\/p>\n

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Costas Gousis<\/strong> holds a law degree from the Law School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), a Masters in Political Theory and Philosophy at the School of Political Sciences of AUTH and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Roehampton in London. Taking into account the EU institutional framework on Migration and Asylum policies, relevant case law and transnational activism, his dissertation draws attention to the constitution of migrant\/refugee political subjectivity and tries to rethink the political conjuncture and its turning points after the eruption of crisis in Greece shedding light on the multinational working class through exemplary struggles and life stories (2009-2019). Particularly concerned with ways to tackle the situation of non-citizenship and racism, his broader research work is building bridges between the concept of the philosophy of praxis, the tool of strategic litigation and critical migration studies. His professional experience includes working as a member of the Asylum Appeals Committees of the Hellenic Republic under Presidential Decree 114\/2010 and subsequently in the Legal Service of the Youth Support Centre of ARSIS in Athens providing legal assistance for unaccompanied minors, young people and families. He regularly participates in international conferences and the broader debate around social movements and political strategy.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Alkistis Prepi<\/strong> is a PhD candidate in Urban and Regional Planning at the School of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). She is an Architect (ENSA Paris-La-Villette) with a Master\u2019s degree in Urban & Regional Planning (NTUA). Her thesis, titled \u201cResilience and Security: the globalisation of risk in urban planning\u201d, seeks to examine critically resilience as the new strategy of crisis management, embodying the new model of global governance and social control. Her research interests, in the domain of urban social geography, focus mainly on the issue of urban development policies and plans and the resulting spatial and social inequalities and segregation. As a PhD candidate, she has participated as a Teaching Assistant in undergraduate courses at the School of Architecture (NTUA). As a researcher she has participated in international conferences and workshops and has published her articles in scientific journals. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Selected Publications<\/h4>\n

(Michalis Spourdalakis)<\/p>\n