Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Preface: Children on the Move are Children in the First Place
- Contents
- List of Cases
- List of Authors
- Protection of Minors in European Migration Law
- Participation of Children in Asylum Procedures
- Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children as Rights Holders: Theory and Reality in the EU Legal System
- The Rights of Minor Siblings in Migration: Why Migration Policies should Stop Systematically Separating Siblings
- The (Limited) Role of Children’s Rights in EU Family Reunification Law for Beneficiaries of International Protection
- Combatting Child Smuggling and Trafficking: A Comparative Study of the Situation in Nine European States
- Is Immigration Detention Out of the Question? A Child-Based Approach to Immigration Detention and Family Unity
- The Detention of Unaccompanied Minors in EU Asylum Law: What is Left of Children’s Rights?
- How Protective is Custody for Unaccompanied Minors in Greece? Protecting Children’s Rights within Detention
- Appellate Asylum and Migration Proceedings in Belgium: Challenges for the Best Interests of the Child Principle and Unity of Jurisprudence
- Child Asylum Seekers in Botswana: A Critique of the Ngezi and Iragi Decisions
- The Impact of Brexit on Migrant Children’s Rights: Taking Responsibility without Solidarity
- Index
- About the Editors
Child Asylum Seekers in Botswana: A Critique of the Ngezi and Iragi Decisions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 April 2020
- Frontmatter
- Preface: Children on the Move are Children in the First Place
- Contents
- List of Cases
- List of Authors
- Protection of Minors in European Migration Law
- Participation of Children in Asylum Procedures
- Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children as Rights Holders: Theory and Reality in the EU Legal System
- The Rights of Minor Siblings in Migration: Why Migration Policies should Stop Systematically Separating Siblings
- The (Limited) Role of Children’s Rights in EU Family Reunification Law for Beneficiaries of International Protection
- Combatting Child Smuggling and Trafficking: A Comparative Study of the Situation in Nine European States
- Is Immigration Detention Out of the Question? A Child-Based Approach to Immigration Detention and Family Unity
- The Detention of Unaccompanied Minors in EU Asylum Law: What is Left of Children’s Rights?
- How Protective is Custody for Unaccompanied Minors in Greece? Protecting Children’s Rights within Detention
- Appellate Asylum and Migration Proceedings in Belgium: Challenges for the Best Interests of the Child Principle and Unity of Jurisprudence
- Child Asylum Seekers in Botswana: A Critique of the Ngezi and Iragi Decisions
- The Impact of Brexit on Migrant Children’s Rights: Taking Responsibility without Solidarity
- Index
- About the Editors
Summary
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this chapter is to assess the role of children's rights in decision- making with special focus on asylum-seeking children in Botswana. This topic is significant because in 2017, the Court of Appeal considered two applications brought by men and women, who had been detained along with their minor children, following failed applications for asylum. The first of these decisions was Marie Iragi and 2 others v. The Attorney General. This case concerned two women who sought asylum in Botswana accompanied by three minor children. The second case was Egama Ngezi and 165 others v. The Attorney General. This case concerned 166 adult asylum seekers and 195 children who were also under detention pending status determination or removal following rejection of their claims for asylum.
In each case, the asylum seekers brought an application for habeas corpus. They alleged that they had been subjected to lengthy and indefinite detention, with their children, following their failed applications for asylum. The particular focus of this chapter is the Court's approach to protecting the rights of the child asylum seekers who were detained along with their parents.
The chapter begins with a discussion of the rights of child asylum seekers in light of the Convention on the Rights of the Child which Botswana has ratified and domesticated followed by a discussion on Botswana's children's rights framework in the context of refugees and asylum-seeking children. The chapter then considers the Court of Appeal decision in the consolidated appeal in the Iragi and Ngezi cases with particular focus on the Court's posture towards asylum-seeking children. The chapter ends with a discussion of the salient points that the Court should have considered in deciding the cases and some recommendations on law and policy reform.
THE OPERATION OF THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD IN BOTSWANA
Botswana acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1995 and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) in 2001. A further 14 years would pass before the UNCRC was incorporated into Botswana law. In 2009, Botswana amended the Children's Act 1981 and promulgated the new Children's Act 2009 (the Act) ostensibly to implement the UNCRC.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Safeguarding Children's Rights in Immigration Law , pp. 217 - 234Publisher: IntersentiaPrint publication year: 2020