The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CDC) this Thursday accused France of “serious and systematic” violations of the rights of unaccompanied migrant children, reporting that they are often abandoned due to lack of proof of age.
In a report released in Geneva, Switzerland, the committee’s experts stated that many of the migrant children in France who are unable to access the child protection system are homeless, deprived of basic health care and living in “degrading conditions”.
In the document, the CDC, whose 18 experts are responsible for ensuring that States comply with international treaties on the rights of minors, welcomed the fact that, by law, France “considers unaccompanied minors as children in need of care and protection”, but noted that a “large number” of those who declare themselves children are treated as adultsfollowing age assessment procedures considered deficient.
This is because, according to the UN organization, these procedures are “often based on physical appearance or unreliable medical examinations, carried out without the assistance of a trusted adult, legal guardian or lawyer.” This deprivation of protection continues even in the event of an appeal, highlighted the committee, which calls for respect for the “presumption of minority” in force in France. Children must be protected “until proven otherwise”, argued the experts who signed the report.
Many minors whose age is disputed or whose resources are being assessed are “forced to survive on the streets, in parks or in makeshift camps, without sufficient food or clean water and without medical care or education.”
“These children are at high risk of being exposed to trafficking, abuse, mistreatment and police brutality”, denounced the committee, further specifying that “between 50% and 80%” are recognized as minor “after reassessment”.
In its report, the CDC said it also documented other “serious situations” regarding unaccompanied migrant children transiting through France to reach the United Kingdom. These minors “live in extremely precarious conditions, including in camps”. Some even “were detained in airport waiting areas or other border detention centers” when their entry or identity was called into question, experts said, describing these detentions as “disproportionate and therefore arbitrary”.
Despite noting that there are no comprehensive official figures on the number of unaccompanied migrant children affected, the UN committee assured that the problem is “widespread and persistent”.
For all of this, human rights experts made a series of recommendations to France, including that it should start giving “the benefit of the doubt in relation to minor status” and guarantee housing and food “to all those who declare themselves to be unaccompanied migrant children”.
In a response to the committee, the French Government indicated that France “continues its efforts to implement” the Law of 2022 on child protection. Paris further declared that it has implemented, within the framework of a 2023-2027 strategic plan for the judicial protection of young people, “reinforced and coordinated support for priority and particularly vulnerable groups”, such as unaccompanied migrant children.
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