The Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (Council of Europe Treaty Series – No. 197) was adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 3 May 2005 and entered into force on 1 February 2008. It has been ratified by all the member States of the Council of Europe with the exception of the Russian Federation.
https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list?module=treaty-detail&treatynum=197
The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly establishes that child protection rather than immigration control should be the driving concern in how countries deal with unaccompanied children. Unaccompanied children should never be detained. The detention of children on the basis of their or their parents’ immigration status is contrary to the best interests of the child and constitutes a child rights violation as defined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The Convention was adopted by resolution 44/252 of 20 November 1989 at the Forty-fourth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations. It entered into force on 2 September 1990. The States Parties amount to 196 (in October 2021) and is the most widely ratified international instrument world-wide. The Convention provides for a set of rights to which all children are entitled.
https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx
This UNHCR paper provides options and standards for governments on care arrangements and alternatives to detention for children and families.
The Joint General Comment of the CMW and CRC contains legally binding obligations that relate both in general and specifically to the protection of the human rights of children and migrants. The comment focuses in particular on States Parties’ legal obligations regarding age assessment procedures, deprivation of liberty, procedural guarantees and other rights of the children.
