Save the Children warns that the EU plans to lower the age of deportation of migrant minors to 6

 

Save the Children has expressed concern about the forthcoming adoption of the European Union Migration and Asylum Pact, which could lower the detention age to as little as 6. According to the organization, these children would be “locked up in centers while waiting for the outcome of their asylum procedure”.

“On the same day as the International Migrants Day is being celebrated, the European Union is considering arresting young children. Europe should be a refuge and protect children rather than detain and deport them. We defend a migration pact that guarantees, and does not threaten, the rights and protection of children”, said Andrés Conde this morning at an event with the CEOs of Save the Children Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany.

The director of Save the Children in Brussels, Willy Bergogné, expressed his concern about this pact: “All the information makes us think it will be a deterioration in child protection. Not only does the age of detention be reduced, but also that it is proposed to lengthen that detention time with the negative impact that this would entail”.

Bergogne added that the detention is never in the best interests of the child. Children, families and other vulnerable groups “must be accommodated in an appropriate space immediately after arrival and have priority in selection procedures”.

The mental health of migrant children is another concern of the organization, which works in both countries of origin, transit and destination. “Reciting the mental health of the boys and girls who will be integrated into our societies is a matter of self-interest”, said Pim Kraan, director of Save the Children Holland.

“Since 1 in 4 people arriving in Europe is a child, their vulnerability and urgent needs must be at the centre of the final negotiations. It is inconceivable that it is considering not to consider siblings as part of the family for the purpose of family reunification”, added Florian Westphal, director of Save the Children Germany.

For the director of Save the Children Italy, Daniela Fatarella, it is essential that “every child who reaches European borders must be treated as what he is, a child, regardless of his nationality or any other condition”. Fatarella has recalled that the organization’s  teams are witnesses on a daily basis of cases such as that of the 3-year-old who arrived in Lampedusa under the care of an 18-year-old who found him in the desert and took care of him during the journey.

Save the Childres also called on Europe to solidarity with the countries of the south, such as Spain and Italy, which receive the arrival of migrant children the most, and calls for urgent action to address the “heartbreaking situation” of refugee and migrant children.