On Tuesday 5 July, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) published recommendations to create alternatives to the detention of migrant children, a practice that exists in 27 European countries, including Member States.
In a statement, the three agencies highlighted alternative experiences in several Member States, such as in Italy and the Netherlands, where children have been placed with foster families; or in Serbia, which has a care system for unaccompanied migrant children; or even in France or Greece, which have collective accommodation for older unaccompanied minors.
“Detention has a profound and negative impact on the health and well-being of children and can have a lasting negative impact on children’s cognitive development. Detention is known to exacerbate psychological distress and children in detention are at risk of depression and anxiety as well as violence and abuse,” say the three agencies. Several countries in Europe “have demonstrated that alternatives to detention for children and families can be safe, dignified and cost-effective; we urge all European states to adopt these approaches to protect the rights and well-being of refugee and migrant children”, according to the UNHCR.
Link to the recommendations: https://aeur.eu/f/2hq (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)