International Commission of Jurists
Joint Submission on Immigration detention of children in Greece

Joint Submission on Immigration detention of children in Greece

May 15, 2020

The ICJ and GCR have presented today to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants a submission on the human rights of migrants report on ending immigration detention of children and seeking adequate reception and care for them.

The submission is an input for the forthcoming report of the UN Special Rapporteur on ending immigration detention of children and seeking adequate reception and care for them, which is expected to be submitted to the 75th session of the General Assembly.

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) have provided a brief overview of aspects of immigration detention of  migrant children in Greece.

Building on the collective complaint ICJ and ECRE v Greece (173/2018) to the European Committee on Social Rights, ICJ and GCR highlight that the Committee has in May 2019 ruled on immediate measures against Greece, to protect the rights of migrant children given the serious concerns about the gravity and urgency of their situation. Greece has failed to implement the decision of the Committee and migrant children remain in detention in Greece. The Committee’s prescription regarding provision of food, water, education, appropriate shelter and health care have neither been fully implemented.  Additional challenges now arise from the Covid-19 crisis.

The joint submission focuses mainly on the challenges in the development and implementation of non-custodial alternatives to immigration detention of children and their families in Greece as well as the current Covid-19 pandemic and measures taken in that context by Greece that impact detention of migrant children.

The submission is to be found here.

A longer note can be found here.

Human Rights Committee continues work on right to liberty

Human Rights Committee continues work on right to liberty

Oct 17, 2013

The UN Human Rights Committee continues its work on the development of a General Comment on the right to liberty under article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

During its 109th session in Geneva (14 October to 1 November 2013), the Committee continues with its first reading of draft General Comment 35 on article 9 of the ICCPR. The ICJ has provided the Committee with initial comments on the first draft, which are to be supplemented by more extensive submissions after a revised draft is presented by the Committee for public comment.

The ICJ’s initial comments focus on four points:

  1. That the General Comment should explicitly address procedural guarantees required for article 9(4) proceedings to be fair and effective;
  2. That the General Comment should affirm that administrative and other ‘preventive’ detention is in principle not capable of justification in the absence of a valid derogation in a declared state of emergency;
  3. That the General Comment should affirm that non-refoulement obligations can arise in relation to a real risk of violations of article 9; and
  4. Suggestions for strengthening the language on judicial supervision of all forms of deprivation of liberty.

The ICJ’s submission was partly informed by research undertaken by the University of Essex Human Rights Clinic.

HRCttee109-GC35-InitialComments-LegalSubmission-2013 (download the ICJ’s initial comments on draft General Comment 35)

HRCttee-GC35-DraftForFirstReading (download the draft General Comment)

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