This report of the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, Felipe González Morales, was submitted in accordance with General Assembly resolution 74/148 and Human Rights Council resolution 43/6. It advocates for a human rights-based approach to end child migration detention. In particular, it urges States to integrate unaccompanied migrant children into national child protection and welfare systems without any discrimination, irrespective of the child’s migration status.
Key Words Archives: Right to education
UNHCR, Refugee Children: Guidelines on Protection and Care
On 26/01/2022 in
The UNHCR Guidelines aim to define the principles and practical measures for the protection and assistance of refugee children. UNHCR argues that because detention can be very harmful to refugee children, it must be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time. The same principle applies to alternative accommodation in which children are held under prison-like conditions. Families must be kept together at all times.
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 2020 (2014): The alternatives to immigration detention of children
On 21/10/2021 in
The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly notes that although the legislation of most member States provides for the introduction of alternatives to detention, the majority of countries are not applying them in practice. The Assembly calls for an end to the detention of migrant children.
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), General comment No. 12 (2009): The right of the child to be heard
On 21/10/2021 in
Directive 2013/33/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on standards for the reception of applicants for international protection (recast)
On 21/10/2021 in
The recast “Reception Conditions Directive” is a recast of a previous Directive (Council Directive 2003/9/EC of 27 January 2003), with implementation deadline of 21 July 2015. The Directive covers also detention of asylum seekers (artt. 8-10) and of vulnerable persons and minors (art. 11).
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32013L0033&qid=1634037710766
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), General comment No. 14 (2013) on the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration (art. 3, para. 1)
On 21/10/2021 in
The Committee considers that the elements to be taken into account when assessing and determining the child’s best interests, as relevant to the situation in question, are: the child’s views; the child’s identity; the preservation of the family environment and maintaining relations; care, protection and safety of the child; situation of vulnerability; the child’s rights to health and to education.