UN child rights committee urges EU Justice and Home Affairs
Council to include child rights in migration response
GENEVA (11 September 2015) - The United Nations Committee on
the Rights of the Child expresses its deep concern at the current migration
crisis in Europe, and underscores that the continued shocking images that
ricochet around the world do not tell the full extent of the devastating, and
at times irreversible, impact the crisis continues to have on the rights and
well-being of the children involved.
Ahead of the extraordinary “Justice and Home Affairs”
Council taking place on 14 September in Brussels, dedicated to the situation of
migration outside and inside the European Union, the Committee urges EU Ministers
to adopt a child rights-based approach when planning, discussing, and
implementing the measures designed to strengthen the European response.
“All European states have ratified the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, and have committed to ensuring rights to all children that
come under their jurisdiction irrespective of their legal status, and without
discrimination of any kind,” said the Chairperson of the Committee on the
Rights of the Child, Mr. Benyam Dawit Mezmur. “The majority of these children
have already experienced human rights violations before leaving their countries
of origin, and subjecting them to yet more violations within European borders
through laws and treatment that are not child-friendly constitutes an
additional serious violation of Convention obligations.”
A number of these obligations are particularly relevant to
the current situation. “The right of the child to have his or her best
interests taken as a primary consideration should serve as the underlying
obligation upon which all migration laws, policies, and services in countries
of origin, transit, and destination must hinge,” the Chairperson said. “In
addition, the obligation to respect and protect the right of the child to
freedom from all forms of violence — physical or mental, intentional or
non-intentional — needs to be upheld by all branches of Governments and their
in all contexts, including migration,” Mr Mezmur added, noting increasing
visual evidence of police and other authorities acting in ways that may
physically harm or traumatize migrant children.
The Convention obligations apply both in times of stability
and crisis. And the Committee expects all Governments to fully commit to
placing at the heart of their responses their legal obligations towards children
in a migration situation.
“Since a response to the current migration crisis needs
rights-based, serious, and collaborative efforts, the Committee stands ready to
engage with all countries in Europe in their efforts to strengthen the protection
of the rights of the child in their migration responses,” the Chairperson
concluded.
ENDS
For more information and media requests, please
contact: Cécile Pouilly (+41 22 917 9310
/ cpouilly@ohchr.org)
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