Ahead of a key meeting of EU institutions and member states on issues relating to immigration and asylum, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child issued an urgent plea for EU countries to bring an end to the migration-related detention of children. “EU law should not allow for child immigration detention, even as a last resort, and the reform of the Common European Asylum System is a timely opportunity to ban this practice,” said Renate Winter, the committee’s chair. “Detaining children, whether unaccompanied or on the basis of their or of their parents’ immigration status, is never in the best interests of the child and constitutes a violation of the rights of the child.”
Across the EU, countries are opting to place migrant children in detention, often in unsuitable environments – something which the GDP has long been drawing attention to. For more information, see:
- “Children in Immigration Detention: Challenges of Measurement and Definition,” 1 June 2015
- “THE UNCOUNTED: The Detention of Migrants and Asylum Seekers in Europe,” 17 December 2015
- “Submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Slovakia,” 14 April 2016
- “Submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Bulgaria,” 14 April 2016
- “Submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Spain,” 28 February 2017
- “Immigration Detention of Children: Coming to a Close?” 28 September 2017
- “Submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Denmark,” 8 October 2017
