Abstract
This Study intends to analyze the detention of unaccompanied migrant children in Portugal. Following the standards of the European Union, the detention of migrant children—and unaccompanied minors in particular—must be applied only as a last resort measure. However, decisions taken in this context by the Portuguese authorities are not homogeneous, and sometimes may result in the detention of unaccompanied children in degrading conditions. A clinical sociology approach may be of the utmost importance, as the life and the “person” that the migrant child will become can be deeply shaped by the decisions taken during this phase or by an inadequate migration system as a whole. The Convention on the Rights of the Child may function as a paramount instrument to provide guidance for clinical sociologists in their intervention activity.
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Notes
- 1.
Between January and December 2018, some 30,085 children arrived in Greece, Italy, Spain and Bulgaria, of whom 12,717 (42%) were unaccompanied or separated children (UASC). Arrival of children overall in 2018 dropped by 7% compared to 2017 (32,963) (UNHCR, UNICEF & IOM 2018).
- 2.
For example, in April 2020, Portugal announced that it is ready to airlift 50 unaccompanied migrant children from the Greek islands.
- 3.
The case of Mubilanzila Mayeka and Kaniki Mitunga v. Belgium (application no. 13178/03, ruling dated of 12/10/2006) is a striking example of a situation where it was considered that detention of an unaccompanied child had violated Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In this case, a 5 year old child was separated from the only relative that was accompanying her, and placed in a detention centre with adults. The Court considered that this treatment would amount to torture.
- 4.
Law n. 27/2008, of 30 July, as last amended by Law n. 26/2014, of 5 May.
- 5.
Law n. 23/2007, de 04 July, as last amended by Law n. 28/2019, of 29 March.
- 6.
Amended introduced by Law n. 26/2014, de of 5 May.
- 7.
Asylum Information Database, https://www.asylumineurope.org/
- 8.
Article 21 of the “Directive on Reception Conditions”, Article 3/9 of the “Return Directive” and Article Article 2/1/y AL and Article 146-A IL.
- 9.
IOM/ABS Conference on Alternatives to Detention, 22 October 2018, Lisbon.
- 10.
Law on Protection and Promotion of Children and Youngsters in Danger, Law n. 147/99 of 1 September, as last amended by Law n. 26/2018 of 5 July.
- 11.
During the COVID-19 pandemic crisis there was an outbreak of contamination in one of these hostels. Asylum seekers had to be moved to a military camp, which raised a deep public commotion. The media then reported the extremely bad conditions in which more hundreds of asylum seekers were living in hostels, in small rooms shared by several families who would sleep in bunk beds and share overcrowded common and dining places.
- 12.
Both IL and AL require that families must not be separated on detention (Article 146-A/6 IL and Article 35-B/7 AL). However, in some airports’ detention centers, there are no “family rooms”, and detainees are separated by sex, which means that members of the family remain separated during sleep hours.
- 13.
In 2019, the NPM issued a recommendation to the ABS Director, in order to transfer every person who would be isolated for more than 7 days in a detention centre to the Centre destined for return procedures. The ABS did not follow the recommendation, claiming that the latter had a specific purpose and could not accommodate asylum seekers (cf. Recommendation no. 2/2019/NPM), available at http://www.provedor-jus.pt/?idc=127&dta=2019
- 14.
- 15.
The National Report for Internal Security mentioned that trafficking of children for the purpose of forced labour and sexual exploitation remained a concern at the air borders (RASI 2018).
- 16.
- 17.
See, among other reliable piece of news https://rr.sapo.pt/2019/11/06/pais/trafico-de-menores-pedem-asilo-e-depois-desaparecem-quantos-todos/noticia/170703/
- 18.
Based on this idea the Council of Europe’s plan of Action for Protecting Migrant and Refugee Children in Europe highlights that “in the context of migration, children should be treated first and foremost as children. It concerns all children in migration who arrive/have arrived in the territory of any Council of Europe member State, including asylum -seeking, refugee and migrant children”.
- 19.
In this context, the CRC commented that in Portugal there was an “inconsistent assessment of the best interests of the child in refugee status determination procedures, as well as in deportation procedures of migrant families with children” (CRC 2019).
- 20.
Guidelines of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on child-friendly justice, adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 17 November 2010, available at https://rm.coe.int/16804b2cf3
- 21.
Currently, the type of information generally provided to migrant children may be considered insufficient. ABS has designed a specific information leaflet for unaccompanied children regarding the asylum procedure, reception conditions, rights and duties including legal representation and age assessment. However, according to AIDA’s 2019 report, the information is brief and not considered user-friendly particularly in the case of unaccompanied children. Moreover, they are available in a limited number of languages (e.g. French, English, Arabic) and is not distributed systematically (AIDA 2019).
- 22.
- 23.
Order no. 5793-A/2020, of 26th May 2020.
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Gil, A.R. (2021). Detention of Unaccompanied Migrant Children in Portugal: A Call for a Clinical Sociology Intervention. In: Vissing, Y., Leitão, S. (eds) The Rights of Unaccompanied Minors. Clinical Sociology: Research and Practice. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75594-2_9
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