IMMIGRATION LAW AND RIGHTS OF CHILDREN: EU-FUNDED TRAINING PROGRAMME IN IMMIGRATION LAW FOR LAWYERS PROMOTED BY SANt'ANNA SCHOOL DIRPOLIS INSTITUTE, APPLY ONLINE BY 2 NOVEMBER 2016

“Promuovere l’accesso dei minori stranieri ai diritti” is the new training programme in immigration law, with a special focus on immigrant children's rights, which will be held in Pisa on December 2-3, 2016. The course, promoted by the Institute of Law, Politics, Development of Sant’Anna School together with ASGI - Associazione Italiana Studi Giuridici sull’Immigrazione, is financed by the European Union as a part of the “Fostering Access to Immigrant Children’s Rights” (FAIR) project, and offered to lawyers dealing with the practice of children’s rights law and ethical issues of representation.

The Dirpolis Institute (Law, Politics, Development) of Sant'Anna School has proposed several successful higher education training initiatives dedicated to the rights of migrants. This course, which focuses on the issues related to immigrant children's rights, is offered in consideration of the tremendous barriers that children face in accessing justice and the shortage of lawyers available to represent children in courts, in addition to the lack of specialized competence in the field of human rights, both from the international law and European Union law perspective.

The educational goal is to train lawyers capable of protecting the rights of children in the justice system and ensuring the child participation in the court proceedings. The course is also aimed at creating a European group of human rights lawyers with experience in strategic litigation upholding the rights of migrant children, who can act as "agents of change" in their societies and at the European level.

Deadline for applying is Wednesday, 2 November 2016. Applicants must complete online applications for free registration and submit a motivation letter. The course will not charge tuition fees. Ten eligible candidates shall be entitled to reimbursement of accommodation and travel expenses (please see the call for applications www.santannapisa.it/minoristranieri/domanda). The International Commission of Jurists-European Institutions Office, as the project coordinator, is responsible for the payment of the expenses.

The course accreditation process is overseen by the Ordine degli Avvocati di Pisa committee.