36/21 Panel discussion on unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents and human rights - Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

GE.17-13238(E)

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Human Rights Council Thirty-sixth session

11-29 September 2017

Agenda items 2 and 3

Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner

for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the

High Commissioner and the Secretary-General

Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil

political, economic, social and cultural rights,

including the right to development

Panel discussion on unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents and human rights

Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Summary

The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 33/7,

in which the Human Rights Council decided to hold a panel discussion on unaccompanied

migrant children and adolescents and human rights, the objective of which was to identify

challenges and best practices by countries of origin, transit and destination, and possible

joint efforts at all levels to protect the human rights of unaccompanied migrant children and

adolescents, and requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to

liaise with States and all stakeholders, including relevant United Nations bodies, agencies,

funds and programmes, treaty bodies, special procedures of the Human Rights Council,

national human rights institutions and civil society, with a view to facilitating their

participation in the panel discussion (see para. 5 of the resolution). The Council also

requested the High Commissioner to prepare a report on the panel discussion in a form of a

summary for submission at its thirty-sixth session (see para. 6 of the resolution). The

present report summarizes the panel discussion on unaccompanied migrant children and

adolescents and human rights that was held on 9 June 2017, during the thirty-fifth session

of the Council.

United Nations A/HRC/36/21

I. Introduction

1. Pursuant to its resolution 33/7, the Human Rights Council decided to convene at its

thirty-fifth session a panel discussion on the theme “Unaccompanied migrant children and

adolescents and human rights”, the objective of which would be to identify challenges and

best practices by countries of origin, transit and destination, and possible joint efforts at all

levels to protect the human rights of unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents, and

requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to liaise with States

and all stakeholders, including relevant United Nations bodies, agencies, funds and

programmes, treaty bodies, special procedures of the Human Rights Council, national

human rights institutions and civil society, with a view to facilitating their participation in

the panel discussion (see para. 5 of the resolution). Furthermore, the Council requested the

High Commissioner to prepare a report on the panel discussion in the form of a summary

for submission to the Council at its thirty-sixth session (see para. 6 of the resolution).1

2. The panel discussion was held during the thirty-fifth session of the Human Rights

Council, on 9 June 2017. It was chaired by Joaquín Maza Martelli, President of the Human

Rights Council. The opening remarks were delivered by Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, United

Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

3. The panel was moderated by Peggy Hicks, Director of the Thematic Engagement,

Special Procedures and Right to Development Division, Office of the United Nations High

Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The panellists were Benyam Dawit Mezmur,

Member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child; Cristiana Carletti, Associate

Professor of International Law, Roma Tre University; Lucio Melandri, Senior Emergency

Advisor, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); Obiora Chinedu Okafor, Member of

the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee; and Gholamreza Hassanpour, a former

unaccompanied migrant youth, who was assisted by Katerina Giannikopoulou, Social

Worker, Greek Council for Refugees.

4. The panel aimed to allow for exchanges of views, challenges, best practices and

joint efforts, by countries of origin, transit and destination, on the protection of the human

rights of unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents. The discussion was an

opportunity for States Members of the United Nations, international organizations, non-

governmental organizations, national human rights institutions and other relevant

stakeholders to discuss issues in relation to the effective protection of the human rights of

unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents, with a focus on practices that respected

and promoted the principle of the best interests of the child. The discussion also provided

an opportunity for the panellists and participants to consider and recommend concrete ways

to include the human rights of unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents within the

global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration.

5. Migrant children and adolescents, in particular those who are unaccompanied or

separated from their families, can be at heightened risk of human rights violations at

various points in their migratory journey, in countries of origin, transit and destination.

During their journey, children may be exposed to crimes and human rights abuses,

including theft, kidnapping and extortion, denial of access to health, education, food, water

and housing, violence and physical abuse, and forced labour, as well as sexual exploitation

and abuse. In its resolution 33/7, the Human Rights Council expressed deep concern in that

regard, and highlighted the fact that the protection and assistance needs of many

unaccompanied migrant children, often including their most basic needs, have not yet been

met.

6. The drivers for such movements are multiple and intertwined, and may include

extreme poverty, lack of access to fundamental human rights such as education, health and

1 The full video of the panel discussion is available from http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/human-

rights-council/watch/panel-discussion-on-unaccompanied-migrant-children-12th-meeting-35th-

regular-session-human-rights-council/5466188996001#full-text.

decent work, the search for family reunification, the death of one or both parents, the

consequences of climate change, natural disaster and environmental degradation, all forms

of violence, and lack of personal safety.

7. In the landmark New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, adopted in

September 2016,2 Member States recognized the special needs of migrants in vulnerable

situations, including children, especially those who are unaccompanied and separated from

their families, and committed to protecting their human rights and fundamental freedoms,

regardless of their status, giving primary consideration at all times to the best interests of

the child. Furthermore, Member States made a number of concrete commitments on human

rights issues related to unaccompanied children and those separated from their families,

including to refer their care to the relevant national child protection authorities and other

relevant authorities; to provide for basic health, education and psychosocial development;

to ensure the registration of all births on their territories; to ensure that all children are

receiving education within a few months of arrival; to prioritize budgetary provision to

facilitate access to education after arrival; and to strive to provide refugee and migrant

children with a nurturing environment for the full realization of their rights and capabilities.

In addition, Member States committed themselves to comply with the obligations set out

under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

8. In the New York Declaration, Member States agreed to develop in 2018 a global

compact for safe, orderly and regular migration, which would set out principles and

commitments regarding international migration in all its dimensions. The resolution

establishing the modalities of the process 3 invites Member States to also take into

consideration, in the consultation phase, their perspectives with regard to the complex

interrelationship between migration and all human rights, to gender equality and to the

needs of migrants in vulnerable situations, and perspectives involving migrant children and

youth, including unaccompanied migrant children, in order to promote a comprehensive

understanding of international cooperation and migration governance in all its dimensions.

II. Opening remarks

9. The High Commissioner, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, welcomed the Council’s attention

to the urgent subject of human rights violations suffered by many unaccompanied migrant

children and adolescents. He noted reports of UNICEF that the global number of children

on the move on their own had reached a record high. At least 300,000 unaccompanied and

separated children had been recorded in some 80 countries in 2015 and 2016, up from

66,000 in 2010 and 2011. Many of those children were fleeing situations of conflict and

violence, while others were escaping poverty, discrimination and the consequences of

natural disasters and climate change. Some of them migrated entirely independently, hence

they were extremely vulnerable to smugglers and traffickers as well as to various violations

of their human rights.

10. The High Commissioner expressed his concern that migration governance systems

had failed to take into account children’s views, which heightened the risks faced by

children, who were determined to continue in order to reach their intended destination. He

stressed that the best interests of the child must guide all relevant policies, including with

regard to age assessments, entry, stay and expulsion, access to basic services, family

reunification and appointment of guardians. The High Commissioner urged in-depth

determination of each child’s need for protection, and of the harm that may result from

deportation. If a child was sent back to the same conditions that had compelled his or her

departure, the result may be repeat migration through increasingly dangerous routes. He

also expressed concern at the shockingly inadequate conditions faced by children in

immigration detention, noting that the detention of children because of their or their

parents’ migration status was never in the best interests of the child and that it always

constituted a human rights violation.

2 See General Assembly resolution 71/1.

3 Ibid., annex II.

11. The High Commissioner reminded Member States that in the landmark New York

Declaration, adopted in 2016, they had acknowledged the particular vulnerability of all

migrant children, especially those who were unaccompanied. States had committed

themselves to ensuring the highest level of protection of those children. He informed

Member States that OHCHR was leading the development, within the Global Migration

Group, of principles and guidelines on migrants in vulnerable situations, which were aimed

at ensuring meaningful protection of migrant children on the ground. He concluded that the

global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration should aim to build a global

framework that ensured that future generations were spared the hellish journeys that far too

many boys and girls faced today.

III. Summary of the panel discussion

A. Contributions of the panellists

12. Benyam Dawit Mezmur, of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, emphasized

that the issue of unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents was a global issue of the

utmost importance. He cited the considerable share of unaccompanied persons among

migrant minors on the perilous route from Libya to Italy: that share amounted to 92 per cent

in 2016, up from 75 per cent in 2015. He reminded the Council of the current undertaking

of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which was producing a joint general comment

with the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members

of Their Families on the human rights of children in the context of international migration.

His speech focused on the same issue, and was structured around five areas of concern,

namely age determination, reception and return, guardianship, exploitation, and access to

justice and due process.

13. Mr. Mezmur emphasized that age determination played a decisive role in defining

the scope of application of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The outcome of that

process could result in an individual being categorized either as an unaccompanied minor

entitled to the protection provided by the Convention, or as an undocumented migrant. He

also noted that, in a number of instances, the methods used for age assessment could be

intrusive without providing conclusive results, and that such methods did not comply with

the principle of the best interests of the child. He added that, pending the outcome of the

process, each person whose age was being assessed should be treated as a child; in

particular, the person should not be detained in countries that had prohibited the

immigration detention of children.

14. With regard to reception and return, Mr. Mezmur emphasized that providing an

adequate standard of living to unaccompanied minors was an obligation of the State. In

particular, short-term reception and protection in shelters, but also longer-term assistance to

support local integration and family tracing, should be made accessible to all, including

children with disabilities, their parents and guardians, pregnant women and breastfeeding

mothers. The right to an adequate standard of living should also prevail during the

preparation of a child’s return to the country of origin. In all those varied situations, child

protection authorities should be involved in designing and implementing State policies.

Moreover, clear and binding firewalls should be established between housing providers

(public and private) and immigration enforcement authorities.

15. With respect to guardianship as well as to access to justice and due process, Mr.

Mezmur stated that both were crucial to the well-being of unaccompanied migrant children

and adolescents. In particular, family reunification rights should be expanded to persons

under subsidiary protection; and families separated due to conflict or disaster should be

reunited, in line with the child’s best interests. Finally, he contended that the current

migrant crisis underlined the limitation of child protection services in numerous countries.

He called on States to increase the funding of these services, including by strengthening

human resources. In his concluding remarks, he emphasized that given the fundamental role

that the Convention on the Rights of the Child had played in times of humanitarian crises, it

was legitimate for States to use the Convention to guide their response to migratory

movements.

16. Cristiana Carletti, of Roma Tre University, emphasized that all children, including

unaccompanied minors, were entitled to have their human rights respected, and in particular

to have their best interests taken as a primary consideration in host, transit and destination

countries. Taken in conjunction with the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, of

1951, that principle should be seen as reinforcing and expanding the Convention provisions

for the protection of unaccompanied minors in instances where domestic protection

alternatives were being assessed or when removal of a child to a “safe third country” or to

the child’s country of origin was being considered.

17. According to Ms. Carletti, the following measures can be put in place in order to

address unaccompanied minors’ basic needs: establishing appropriate identification and age

assessment procedures in reception centres; recruiting personnel with specific skills to work

alongside unaccompanied minors, including cultural mediators; adopting methodologies to

trace family members so as to facilitate the implementation of family reunification

programmes; assisting voluntary repatriation, using a case-by-case approach; and creating a

specific data collection system, to include all essential information about each case.

Moreover, Member States should persevere in their efforts to develop in 2018 a global

compact for safe, orderly and regular migration.

18. Ms. Carletti cited as an example of good legislative practice the approval by the

Italian Parliament of Act No. 47 of 7 April 2017, which provided new, comprehensive

legislation on accompanied and unaccompanied minors, in compliance with Human Rights

Council resolution 33/7. In particular, the Act repeated the principles formulated by the

Committee on the Rights of the Child, such as its definition of “unaccompanied minors”,

and the principle of non-refoulement of unaccompanied minors at borders; reduced the

maximum length of time that the identification process could take for unaccompanied

minors; provided them with psychosocial support and with access to education and health

care; created a list of voluntary guardians, managed by local communities; and ensured the

direct participation of unaccompanied minors in decision-making processes concerning

them.

19. Lucio Melandri, of UNICEF, noted that the number of children moving across

international borders had been skyrocketing in the past decade. For example, in Europe

alone, the number of children seeking asylum had multiplied almost tenfold between 2008

and 2016. Because the factors driving children to seek refuge, such as hunger, conflict,

violence, poverty and climate shocks showed no sign of abating, migration flows were

expected to remain constant or to grow.

20. States’ migration management, depending on their inclination, could either

contribute to protecting unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents or could increase

the risks they were exposed to. For instance, sudden border closure measures and

aggressive pushbacks could leave children in countries where they were not welcomed, or

had few opportunities. Consequently, children could turn to smugglers, who ranged from

people who were helping others in need, for a fee, to organized criminal networks that

exploited and abused children.

21. Barriers to legal migration did not stop children from migrating but only pushed

them underground, thereby making them more vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation.

The lack of timely information, of guardians and of access to services, as well as weak

child protection systems and inadequate law enforcement measures, worked in favour of

traffickers and against the children. Moreover, even when unaccompanied migrant children

were highly in need, their mistrust of institutions, and their fear of detention and

deportation, prevented them from coming forward to seek protection and support.

22. Hence, UNICEF recommended that Member States: (a) protect child refugees and

migrants, particularly unaccompanied children, from exploitation and violence; (b) end the

detention of children seeking refugee status or migrating, by introducing a range of

practical alternatives; (c) keep families together, as the best way to protect children and

give children legal status; (d) keep all refugee and migrant children in education and give

them access to good-quality health care and other services; (e) press for action on the

underlying causes of large-scale movements of refugees and migrants; and (f) promote

measures to combat xenophobia, discrimination and marginalization.

23. The UNICEF representative concluded his speech by asserting that those

recommendations were feasible, and gave the examples of a few “champion” countries for

children, including Canada, Germany, Italy and Uganda. Italy had recently approved a

model law on the protection and inclusion of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.

UNICEF also supported Member States’ efforts in establishing alternatives to detention,

such as foster families and group homes and the timely appointment of guardians.

24. Obiora Chinedu Okafor, of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee,

presented the study that the Advisory Committee had been mandated to conduct. Its goal

was to provide a comprehensive analysis of the situation of unaccompanied migrant

children and adolescents from a human rights perspective. For Mr. Okafor, it was

impossible to stress enough the extent and depth of vulnerability of vast numbers of

unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents. In one country, for example, three

quarters of unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents had experienced violence,

aggression and/or harassment at the hands of adults.

25. Some of the main human rights issues facing unaccompanied migrant children and

adolescents were: trafficking for sexual and economic exploitation; brutality perpetrated

both by law enforcement agents and by non-State actors; deprivations or violations of their

rights to access basic education, health care, housing and other social protection measures;

racial discrimination in some transit and destination countries; and gender-based

discrimination and the increased risk of exploitation and/or violence faced by female

unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents.

26. The forthcoming recommendations that would be issued by the Human Rights

Council Advisory Committee included recommendations that Member States: (a)

implement more effectively the existing domestic and international legal frameworks for

the special protection of unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents; (b) bring their

domestic regimes up to par with international human rights law, especially the Convention

on the Rights of the Child and the jurisprudence of the Committee on the Rights of the

Child; (c) reorientate their practice, from a predominantly “border control” approach that

emphasizes too much the apprehension, detention and deportation of unaccompanied

migrant children and adolescents, to the “best interests of the child” approach; (d) provide

more special sensitivity training to border control and other relevant agents and/or staff on

the situation, needs and treatment of unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents; (e)

do more to treat unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents who pass through, or are

otherwise on, their territories, much like they are supposed to treat their minor citizens who

are in a vulnerable position; and (f) develop and keep more specific, and disaggregated,

data on the situation of unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents in their territories.

27. Gholamreza Hassanpour, the former unaccompanied migrant child, assisted by

Katerina Giannikopoulou of the Greek Council for Refugees, shared his experiences with

the Council. He equated them to the experiences of unaccompanied minors throughout the

world. Growing up in the Islamic Republic of Iran as an Afghan refugee had been

extremely difficult for him, as he had not been able to access health care nor public

education. At the age of 16, he had left his family and fled towards Europe. He had almost

lost his life on numerous occasions during that dangerous journey. At the border between

the Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkey, he had walked for ten nights and hidden inside

caves in the mountains to avoid arrest, following a smuggler he had paid. He had entered

Turkey in a small and overcrowded truck and had been arrested by the Turkish army,

detained in a makeshift camp and subjected to rain and freezing temperatures. He had then

been abandoned at the border and forced to surrender to traffickers, who had demanded that

he buy his freedom back, which he had eventually managed to do.

28. From Turkey, Mr. Hassanpour had embarked on an overcrowded lifeboat in the

middle of the night — to avoid coastguard patrols — and had arrived on Lesvos, in Greece.

Thinking that he would be safe in Europe, he had turned himself in to the authorities and

had been threatened and beaten up by Greek coast guards. He had then been brought to a

detention centre, where children and adults were held together in very poor conditions.

There was only one toilet and one bathroom for fifty people. Detainees were allowed 30

minutes a day outside in the yard, and no contact with anyone on the outside.

29. He had eventually been released and had come to Athens, where he had shared a

room with ten other Afghans, and had got a job as a tailor working 12 hours a day for a

year. However, he had other aspirations, and had made contact with an association, which

had helped him to learn the Greek language and to register in school. After seven years, his

asylum application had been examined and he had been recognized as a refugee. He had

recently acquired Greek citizenship. For the past six years, he had been an interpreter for

the Greek Council for Refugees, helping to provide legal and social support to other

unaccompanied child refugees and asylum seekers.

30. Mr. Hassanpour emphasized the great dangers that migrant children were facing

across the world. Smugglers, traffickers, border guards, police, or even fellow travellers

could take advantage of them. He made three concrete recommendations to the Member

States: (a) Child protection officers should be present at every step of the migration journey

to ensure that children’s best interests are safeguarded. Child protection officers — not

police or border guards — should be making decisions on what is best for unaccompanied

children; (b) Children should have access to fundamental services such as interpretation,

psychological support, education and health care. Where relevant, unaccompanied children

should also have effective access to asylum procedures. There should be firewalls between

children’s access to these services and the migration enforcement functions of police and

border guards; and (c) Children should be provided with adequate shelter and proper

reception services, and immigration detention of minors should be suspended. Immigration-

related detention was never in the best interests of the child.

B. Interactive discussion

31. Interventions were made during the plenary discussion by representatives of the

European Union, Slovenia (also on behalf of Austria and Croatia), El Salvador (on behalf

of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States), Argentina, Sierra Leone,

Mexico, France, Brazil, El Salvador, South Africa, the Council of Europe, Ecuador, the

Holy See, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, the Russian Federation, Greece, Honduras,

Colombia, Iraq, Turkey, Portugal, Fiji, Bulgaria, Pakistan (on behalf of the Organization of

Islamic Cooperation), Libya, the United States of America, Jordan, the Bolivarian Republic

of Venezuela and China. A small number of other participants requested the floor during

the panel discussion but were unable to deliver their statements owing to a lack of a time.

These included representatives of the following States: Luxembourg, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan,

the Philippines and Switzerland.4

32. The International Committee of the Red Cross made an intervention, as did the

following non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions: the

International Detention Coalition, in a joint statement with Terre des Hommes Fédération

Internationale and Save the Children International; Save the Children International; the

American Civil Liberties Union; the Equality and Human Rights Commission (of the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), in a joint statement with the

Scottish Human Rights Commission and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission;

Caritas Internationalis (the International Confederation of Catholic Charities), in a joint

statement with the Associazione Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII and with Dominicans for

Justice and Peace – Order of Preachers; Defence for Children International, in a joint

statement with the International Catholic Child Bureau; and the Istituto Internazionale

Maria Ausiliatrice delle Salesiane di Don Bosco, in a joint statement with the International

Volunteer Organization for Women, Education and Development.

33. The following sections represent a brief and non-exhaustive summary of the

interventions made from the floor during the discussion.

4 The written interventions are on file with the Secretariat and are available for consultation.

34. Speakers emphasized that, above all, all children on the move were entitled to enjoy

their human rights, and that they must be treated as children first and foremost. Protection

should take place in accordance with international human rights standards, and especially in

accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Thus, the best interests of the

child should be a main consideration in any decision-making procedure, including with

regard to age assessments, entry, stay and expulsion. Particular focus should be placed on

the specific needs and vulnerabilities of migrant children and adolescents, as affirmed in the

landmark New York Declaration. A robust gender analysis of the differential impacts of

migration policies and programmes on migrant children of all genders was also essential,

and procedural guarantees needed to be elaborated in order to address the rights and needs

of unaccompanied minors. In a similar manner, the principle of non-discrimination should

scrupulously be applied to all policies affecting migrant children and adolescents.

35. Speakers agreed that unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents constituted

an extremely vulnerable group that was at an increased risk of grave human rights

violations throughout their migration. Children often migrated not out of free choice, but in

response to a reality aggravated by — inter alia — poverty, armed conflicts and the effects

of climate change. Along hazardous migratory routes, both boys and girls were vulnerable

to being trafficked and to other forms of abuse, exploitation and violence. They often had

limited or no access to basic services, such as to education, health care and housing. As

such, in many instances they were exposed to discrimination, exclusion and

marginalization. Border control policies had also contributed to heightening the risks faced

by migrant children, and some speakers noted that children were being denied protection at

borders, including because they had been misidentified as adults. Speakers highlighted the

need for all children to enjoy access to justice in the context of border management

measures, including access to legal aid when this was necessary to avoid returns that were

not in their best interests.

36. Participants emphasized that children must not be treated as criminals, and in that

regard expressed concern that migrant children could be subjected to punitive policies as a

result of their own migratory status or that of their parents. Speakers expressed the view

that immigration detention of children should be avoided and alternatives should be

pursued, taking into consideration the fundamental principle of the best interests of the

child. Participants noted that even short periods of detention could have long-term effects

on a child’s development.

37. Speakers stressed that there was a need to enable the integration of migrant children

in local communities, in order to ensure that they felt safe and welcome. Their non-

discriminatory access to basic services was an important prerequisite in that regard.

Language training and access to education were vital for migrant children’s integration into

society, and subsequently, also, their ability to access and contribute to domestic labour

markets. The provision of documentation that met their needs and protected them from

further vulnerability was another essential component in successful and rights-based

integration.

38. Speakers shared a number of best practices that addressed the specific needs of

unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents. It was emphasized that the international

community should make every effort to uphold their human rights, and to ensure that

specific protection interventions were put in place. Participants stressed that all such efforts

should be reflected in the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration, which

should also be seen as an opportunity to develop robust, tangible and measurable

commitments to upholding the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all migrant

children, regardless of their status.

C. Responses and concluding remarks

39. During and after the interactive discussion, the Director of the Thematic

Engagement, Special Procedures and Right to Development Division of OHCHR, in her

capacity as moderator, gave panellists the opportunity to respond to questions and to make

concluding remarks. She observed that there was a common concern among States

regarding the vulnerability of unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents and the

human rights violations that they faced during their migratory journey. She stated that a lot

of different words had been used to describe the situation of migrant children, but in the end

the fact remained that they were children first and foremost, regardless of their legal

category, their migration status or any other factor. She stressed that that fact had emerged

strongly in the panel discussion. The protection of the child’s best interests had to be a

primary consideration that prevailed over migration management objectives, or other

administrative considerations, and should be the guiding principle in establishing policy

frameworks or public policies that affected children, including in the context of the

appointment of guardians, age assessment, immigration detention, returns, access to basic

services and family reunification. The principle of non-discrimination should similarly

underpin all measures that affected migrant children and adolescents including education

policies, migration border control measures and family reunification. A robust gender

analysis of the differential impacts of migration policies and programmes on migrant

children of all genders was also essential. A holistic and comprehensive approach

constituted a key element of the survival, growth and development of migrant children,

including the physical, mental, moral, spiritual and social dimensions of their development.

The use of detention, even for short periods, could be extremely detrimental to their

physical and mental health. The testimony of Mr. Hassanpour had underlined the

importance of listening to migrant children’s voices and of learning from their experiences.

States should, thus, take measures to ensure the right of migrant children to be heard and

their participation in decisions affecting them.

40. Mr. Mezmur stressed that the principle of the best interests of the child should be

considered as a procedural right that needed to guide all relevant polices. In a number of

instances, there had been a lack of emphasis on primary prevention. Exploitation risks were

often exacerbated during the age assessment processes at borders. The provision of

effective campaigns to address discrimination and hate speech against migrants, including

children, and to facilitate their access to health services and education, was essential.

Likewise, migrants, and particularly migrant children, should be granted residence status. In

that way, they were more likely to be protected from serious human rights violations,

including in the context of a lack of decent work in informal and unregulated sectors such

as agriculture and mining. It was crucial to abandon the current numbers-driven approach to

return procedures, and to put in place measures that responded to the reasons why children

were migrating in the first place. That would help in protecting migrant children from

having to move on ever more dangerous routes. Unfortunately, the acceleration of returns

had been done at a high cost, particularly to the lives and rights of children on the move. In

concluding, Mr. Mezmur highlighted the significant role played by regional organizations

such as the Economic Community of West African States, which had developed promising

practices for the identification of children on the move.

41. Ms. Carletti addressed States’ efforts in regard to the global compact, suggesting

that protection for unaccompanied children could be increased though domestic initiatives

and legislation. She gave the example of the Italian action plan that provided for the

creation of shelters for unaccompanied minors. Primary assistance, screening and other

steps were guaranteed at those locations, and all relevant information was included in a

designated system. Regarding how to strengthen migrant children’s rights, she mentioned

some key areas, such as guardianship systems and family tracing mechanisms. She also

stated that training and education institutions were essential in allowing children to fully

enjoy their right to access to education. Facilitating education avenues for children was

crucial to facilitating their entrance in the labour market. Such measures and policies had

been adopted in Italy, a country that had faced a massive influx of unaccompanied migrants

in recent years.

42. Mr. Melandri stressed the need for commitments to be translated into action. Even

though the Convention on the Rights of the Child was the most ratified human rights

instrument, the problem lay in its implementation at national level. The Convention

concerned all children in a country, regardless of their status. The main issue was to

implement, update and upgrade national legislative frameworks and ensure that they

reflected the components of the Convention. Children were holders of rights that all

Member States had acknowledged and accepted through their ratification of international

instruments. The global compact process would likely be a non-binding and States-led

process, however it was very important to continue to involve civil society and their

expertise. On the issue raised by Portugal regarding transition from education to the labour

market, UNICEF was of the opinion that the education system was the best way to integrate

migrant children into the host society.

43. Mr. Okafor said that the law on its own could not effect social change, hence

practical measures were necessary in order to increase the human rights protection of

unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents. He also identified the need for alternative

migration pathways, which would be credible and realistic and would ease the pressure on

irregular routes. Migration-related problems could not be disassociated from economic and

social considerations, which lay at the heart of the decision of people to migrate.

Accordingly, socioeconomic policies should accompany the policies instituted in the

domain of migration. Finally, Mr. Okafro stressed that the global compact should

encompass the possibility of setting an educational policy. Language training and education

were essential means for migrants’ integration into the job market.

44. Mr. Hassanpour, assisted by Ms. Giannikopoulou, recalled that upon his arrival in

Greece, in 2005, he had spent some time in a detention centre for unaccompanied children.

Since 2005, there had been many changes regarding unaccompanied children. Nowadays

there were more services, but at the same time, the number of unaccompanied children had

increased. Moreover, there were not enough people with specialist skills working for the

protection of unaccompanied children, such as interpreters and psychologists. There were

also no programmes for social inclusion and integration, and as such, the streets of Athens

were filled with unaccompanied and separated children on the move. Mr. Hassanpour

welcomed the fact that all speakers had referred to laws regarding the protection of

children, especially unaccompanied children. However, he went on to underline the

importance of implementing such laws and making them real in practice. The most

dangerous part of his migratory experience had been the journey. The international

community should find solutions so that unaccompanied children did not have to travel in

such perilous ways. Either they should be safe in their own countries, or they should be able

to find safe and legal ways to migrate. The money that currently went to smugglers could

go towards visas or travel documents instead. States should cover unaccompanied migrant

children’s and adolescents’ needs, especially their educational needs. Being able to live a

healthy and productive life was the key to the integration, well-being and dignity of

unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents.