5.6. Children going through the asylum procedure

The new comprehensive EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child was adopted in 2021 with specific considerations on refugee children’s access to education and adequate health care, as well as their need for age-appropriate information and guidance during the asylum procedure.1410

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child published its concluding observations on Luxembourg,1411  Poland1412  and Switzerland1413  in 2021, and on the Netherlands1414  in early 2022, mentioning concerns related to the best interests of the child in the asylum procedure and their reception conditions.

Among comprehensive national initiatives, a draft law on child protection was discussed in France and adopted by the National Assembly in July 2021,1415  and by the Senate in December 2021.1416  The draft includes several provisions relevant to unaccompanied children. For example, the services responsible for evaluating the child’s minority and isolation will be subject to stricter regulatory measures. The redistribution scheme for unaccompanied minors will be adapted to take into account the socio-economic situation of departments and will prioritise departments that can support children with their transition into adulthood. The evaluation file will be systematically consulted to verify if the child has been assessed in another department. When a department has established the age and the fact that the child is unaccompanied, another department cannot undertake a new assessment to re-evaluate these conclusions. The law would ban accommodating children in facilities not specifically authorised for this purpose. 

In addition, 17-year-old children will be interviewed as soon as possible to prepare them for the transition into adulthood. Departments will be obliged to offer support in transitioning to adulthood for youth up to the age of 21. In addition, the government’s special action plan on vulnerabilities foresees several steps to facilitate unaccompanied children’s access to the asylum procedure (see Section 4.1), for example through a dedicated registration procedure harmonised across prefectures. Furthermore, the action plan proposes to establish an inter-ministerial working group to accelerate the designation of guardians for unaccompanied children and the amendment of the Civil Code to clarify the application of guardianship for unaccompanied children whose parents are alive but geographically far.1417  

A new national coordination board dedicated to unaccompanied children was established in Italy, with its first meeting foreseen for spring 2022. It includes stakeholders from the national coordination board on reception and the integration of beneficiaries of international protection.1418

The prioritisation procedure was updated in Ireland, which re-confirmed that asylum interviews for unaccompanied minor applicants may be scheduled with priority.

The Austrian Federal Ministry of Justice established a Commission on the Best Interests of the Child in February 2021. The commission was tasked to review the legal framework and practices related to children in the asylum procedure.1419  Its report of July 2021 included a set of recommendations organised around 11 topics, including on the assessment of the best interests of the child in the asylum procedure, legal advice to children, age assessments, guardianship, accommodation and care for children, avoiding statelessness, improving the legal framework, data collection and monitoring children’s rights.1420

The Ministry of Justice announced to follow up on these recommendations and improve processes for the guardianship of unaccompanied children and the determination of the best interests of the child. The Austrian parliament requested the federal government to undertake a more in-depth revision of these processes.1421  The Federal Ministry of the Interior conducted an internal review as well, concluding that many of the recommendations were already being applied or were on the way to implementation. As new measures, the ministry updated its guidelines on the determination of the best interests of the child, adapted other internal work documents and reinforced staff training. Prior to the publication of the Commission’s report, UNHCR offered its perspective on the state-of-play in Austria and made recommendations on taking into better account the best interests of the child within the asylum procedure.1422