Border guards face many different challenges in their daily work. One of them is to identify those persons who are in need of special protection, such as victims of trafficking in human beings, unaccompanied minors and asylum seekers. The main challenge for border guards, but also for policy makers, is to achieve a right balance between the protection of these vulnerable groups and the control and management of the border.
In the context of the protection of children in the move, Frontex has developed the VEGA Children Handbook. It aims at providing border guards with a practical tool to support the identification of children-at-risk at the EU external air borders. At the same time, the Handbook raises awareness among the border guard community and it enhances tailored inter-agency cooperation at national and international levels. In this way, it constitutes a founding stone for building a harmonised European system of protection of children from the first moment of arrival at the border.