The Luxembourg Red Cross and the Fondation Maison de la Porte Ouverte have opened two new refugee centres for unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in Luxembourg, the Villa Nia Domo and the St Martin Jeunes.
Recently, the Luxembourg Red Cross and the Fondation Maison de la Porte Ouverte opened their two new refugee centres for minors, in the presence of the Minister of Family, Integration and the Greater Region, Corinne Cagen, the Minister of National Education, Childhood and Youth, Claude Meisch, as well as Maurice Bauer, the President of the Fondation de la Porte Ouverte, Myriam Mersch-Zimmer, the Managing Director of the foundation, and Marc Crochet, the deputy Managing Director of the Luxembourg Red Cross.
The constant increase in asylum seekers in Luxembourg since summer 2015 equally led to a similar rise in the unaccompanied minors seeking asylum. Until now, most of these minors had been housed in temporary migrant and refugee centres.
As such, on 21 December 2015, the state adopted a directive which highlighted the importance of welcoming unaccompanied minor refugees in institutions that fit their specific needs. This directive in turn led to the creation of three new refugee centres: the MINA d’Elisabeth in Troisvierges, the Fondation Maison de la Porte Ouverte’s St Martin Jeunes in Luxembourg-Eich, and the Luxembourg Red Cross’ Villa Nia Domo in Strassen.
Since the start of September 2016, the St Martin Jeunes centre has welcomed ten unaccompanied minors, most of whom were young Afghans. According to Jean-Marie Kirchen who is in charge of the centre, “working with these young people is truly enriching.” He added that, “it involves [teachers] adapting themselves to the needs and expectations of these young people who have a difficult journey, as well as being by their side in an environment that is different to what they knew in their home country.”
The new group at the Villa Nia Domo, under the management of Tom Biever, can welcome up to nine adolescents. Beyond classes, the young people organise their own free time and daily lives under the supervision of a teacher. Household chores are divided and done on a rota-basis and every weekend one young resident cooks for the others.
In these new welcome centres, young unaccompanied refugees are looked after 24 hours a day by a teacher who tries to create a stimulating environment with people the minors can trust. Thanks to the possibility of individual or double bedrooms, the centres offer these young people privacy as well as calm areas where they can study. This encourages faster integration and helps the young refugees progress in their education.
