SLOVAKIA
LEGAL AND POLICY CONTEXT
The UNCRC, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights( ECHR) stipulate that the detention of children should be a measure of last resort. Children’ s right to protection and care and the principle of the best interests of the child should prevail in all decisions affecting them, and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has stressed that detention of children in the context of migration is never in the best interests of the child 1.
Migration detention of children remains a major issue in Slovakia. The Human Rights League reports that 451 children were detained with their adult family members between 2015 and 2016 and remained in detention for an estimated two to three months. According to data collected by the organisation, 27 children were placed in detention between January and March 2017, including 12 children under the age of six, 12 children between the ages of seven and 15 years old and three children who were 16 or 17 years old. The average duration of their placement in detention was 19 days 2.
Under Slovak law, unaccompanied children, unlike children who arrived in the country with their families, cannot be detained. However, young people who cannot provide proof of their age are treated as adults pending an age assessment examination. Once in detention, these young people have no access to information and legal aid which would enable them to challenge their detention.
Unaccompanied children are placed in specialised orphanages or accommodation centres for vulnerable asylum seekers. It is estimated that as many as 90 % of them go missing from these facilities 3. The protection of separated children is also a major concern: they are often detained with adult relatives, for example adult siblings, who are unable to make reasonable decisions in their best interests. Some children were separated from family members accompanying them and were then unable to reunite with them without legal proof of their relationship or parental authorisation.
Under national law, asylum applicants, including families with children, can be detained( a) in order to ascertain their identity or nationality;( b) to process their asylum claims when this would not be otherwise possible, in particular, if there is a risk of them going missing;( c) during return procedures if there is a risk that the individual subject to return may abscond or disrupt
1 _“ The principle of the best interests therefore requires States to take a clear and comprehensive assessment of the child’ s age and identity, including their nationality, upbringing, ethnic, cultural and linguistic background, as well as any particular vulnerabilities or protection need they may have. The child’ s best interests must supersede state aims, for example, of limiting irregular migration”. See“ General Comment No. 6 on the Treatment of Unaccompanied and Separated Children Outside their Country of Origin”, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2005, CRC / GC / 2005 / 6, para. 86; François Crépeau, Jose S. Brillantes, Benyam Dawit Mezmur, Sètondji Roland Adjovi,“ Children and Families Should Never Be in Immigration Detention – UN experts”, 18 December 2016, http:// www. ohchr. org / EN / NewsEvents / Pages / DisplayNews. aspx? NewsID = 21026.
2 _ Thanks to advocacy efforts, in 2017 the Slovak Border and Alien Police started collecting more information about family detention, such as the composition of families by age and the average length of detention. Statistics on Detention are available on the official website of the Ministry of Interior:“ Statistical Overview of Legal and Illegal Migration in the Slovak Republic”, Presidium of the Police Force, Bureau of Border and Alien Police, 2016, http:// www. minv. sk / swift _ data / source / policia / hranicna _ a _ cudzinecka _ policia / rocenky / rok _ 2016 / 2016-statistical-overview-UHCP-EN. pdf.
3 _ For more information, see“ Slovakia Immigration Detention”, Global Detention Project, last modified September 2016, https:// www. globaldetentionproject. org / countries / europe / slovakia.
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