SLOVAKIA
LESSONS LEARNED
• Migration detention needs to be eliminated to protect children. Unaccompanied children might be detained as a result of inadequate age assessment, identification and registration procedures. In order to protect children’ s rights and eliminate detention practices, an integrated child protection framework is needed – one that includes alternatives to migration detention and provides for housing, quality care and other basic services for families and children.
• Alternatives to migration detention are essential for meeting the requirements of international and European law. Migration detention is incompatible with the best interest of the child. The use of alternatives to migration detention would likely decrease the risk of children absconding, as beneficiaries would perceive the system as fairer and would be more likely to trust and cooperate with officials, lawyers and social workers and meet their legal obligations.
• Advocacy for the rights of refugee and migrant children should go hand-in-hand with advocacy for the rights of other marginalised groups. Efforts to promote the rights of refugee and migrant children should be implemented along with efforts to promote the rights of other marginalised groups, so advocacy organisations aiming at integration of different marginalised target groups should work together to achieve meaningful change in integration.
• Schools and authorities of social and legal protection of children should be involved in broader alliances advocating for children’ s rights. Schools and authorities responsible for social and legal protection of children often disregard their own role in promoting and safeguarding children’ s rights. Raising their awareness could help them assume a more proactive role in protecting children and advocating for the use of alternatives to migration detention.
4 _ Jarmila Androvičová,“ Securitization of Migrants in Slovakia- Discourse Analysis”, Sociológia 47( 2015): 319-339. Jarmila Androvičová,“ The Migration and Refugee Crisis in Political Discourse in Slovakia: Institutionalized Securitization and Moral Panic”, Acta Universitatis Carolinae Studia Territoralia 2( 2016): 39 – 64;“ Migration Politics in Slovakia: Balancing Domestic and EU-level Goal”, Globsec, 9 May 2017, https:// www. globsec. org / publications / migration-politics-slovakia-balancing-domestic-eu-level-goals /.
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