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
Protection of Minors in European Migration Law
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
‘As children in migration are exposed to high risks of violence, trafficking or exploitation along migration routes or may go missing, or become separated from their families, they require a specific protection. Children have the right to be protected, in line with relevant provisions of EU law, including the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and with international law on the rights of the child. The child's best interests must be the primary consideration in all actions or decisions concerning children..’
This is a statement of the European Commission in the press release of its communication on the protection of children in migration in April 2017. Swift protection upon arrival and adequate reception conditions for children are proposed along with alternatives to administrative detention and speeding up family tracing and reunification procedures. Similar targets are formulated in the Council of Europe Action Plan on Protecting Refugee and Migrant Children in Europe, which runs from 2017 to 2019. It proposes concrete support to Member States at all stages of the migration process, with a special focus on unaccompanied children. Nevertheless, the UNHCR reported that hundreds of unaccompanied girls and boys, newborn babies and pregnant women were particularly at risk due to the extremely poor reception conditions at the hotspots on the Greek islands. EU Member States return unaccompanied minors to Afghanistan even though children's rights organisations have reported that this country is not safe, especially for minors. The Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) published a report on the immigration detention of children which concludes that detaining children for migration management or asylum reasons is difficult to justify, practically very challenging to implement in line with fundamental rights and clearly not in the child's best interests. However, it is still common practice in most Member States. The content of the Communication of the EC and the Action Plan of the Council of Europe are positive but demonstrate that progress in changes to immigration policy is slow.
This contribution will analyse the protection of minors in European migration law and will contradict the opinion that strong immigration policy considerations would in principle militate in favour of identifying children with the conduct of their parents.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Safeguarding Children's Rights in Immigration Law , pp. 1 - 16Publisher: IntersentiaPrint publication year: 2020