The Detention of Migrant Children: The Risks of the New European Pact on Migration and Asylum

Abstract

This article seeks to examine the implications of the recently adopted European Pact on Migration and Asylum in light of the existing prohibition on the detention of children, as enshrined in European and international law. It will focus on the new screening and border procedures, with a particular emphasis on immigration detention and the deprivation of liberty of children. To this end, an analysis of the legal framework before and after this new re form has been carried out in order to identify the changes introduced, in accordance with the legislative texts and the lines of reasoning developed by the European Court of Human Rights in its decisions on the detention of children in the context of migration. Thus, it is observed that the new EU Pact, through the screening and border procedures, could increase the cases of detention of migrant children and, consequently, pose a risk to the rights of the child.

Keywords: Rights of the child, European Pact on Migration and Asylum, Immigration detention, Measure of protection, Jurisprudence