| 12 December 2008 On 12 December in Odesa the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, with assistance of the EU Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM), launched an information campaign for families planning to travel abroad with children. The information campaign includes booklet, posters, a hot-line, and information materials at the Internet aiming to inform travellers about rules of crossing the border with children.
The Ukrainian Border Guard Service jointly with EUBAM identified a need to improve awareness of travellers on rules for crossing the border with children. According to the latest statistics, annually more than five thousands children are turned back at the border due to lack of proper documents.
The issue mainly refers to cases when children are travelling without the parents or just one parent. According to the Ukrainian legislation, in these cases a person accompanying the child needs to present a travel document of the child; a travel document of the accompanying person, and notary permission of the parents allowing the child to go abroad (for more detailed info on the rules see the Info Sheet).
In order to assist the travellers before the holiday season, the State Border Guard Service developed information materials to be disseminated via travel agencies, schools, and mass media. In addition, the booklet will be made available in railway and bus stations along the Moldovan-Ukrainian border in several towns: Odesa, Bolhrad, Kotovsk, Rozdilnya, Yampil, and Mohyliv-Podilskiy. The Border Guard representatives and EUBAM experts will also continue visits to local schools at the border to inform students and teachers. The booklet, designed as comics, tells a story about a boy planning to travel abroad with his grandmother without the parents. It leads the reader through the process of obtaining necessary documents for the travel.
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