In this case, a family from Kosovo, which included two young children, was detained in the Czech Republic while traveling on their way to Germany after seeking asylum in Hungary. They were held for 50 days in a detention center pending transfer under the Dublin Regulation. The family challenged the detention as unlawful, inhumane and degrading, and the conditions as inadequate for children. 

The Czech Constitutional Court found that their rights to liberty and family life were violated due to the lack of clear legal grounds for detention, specifically the undefined “serious risk of absconding.” The Court emphasized that detention should only be used as a last resort, particularly for children, and that less coercive alternatives should have been considered – like placement in a semi-open reception center. The Court rejected claims of inhuman and degrading treatment but ruled that the detention of the father also affected the children, resulting in a de facto deprivation of their liberty. 

Source here.

Translate »