Law Library of Congress Report on Child Asylum Seekers

The Law Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. has released a report on Provisions on Child Asylum Seekers:

"This report surveys the laws of eight democratic foreign jurisdictions with respect to whether there are special laws concerning children asylum-seekers, particularly unaccompanied children.  Covered jurisdictions include the countries of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, as well as the European Union (EU)."

"As discussed more fully in the jurisdictional surveys, all of the jurisdictions covered in this report have provisions treating asylum-seeking minors differently from asylum-seeking adults.  The EU requires Member States to make protecting the best interests of the child a primary consideration when applying asylum law.  Member States must provide unaccompanied minor asylees with legal guardians or representatives; must make the health, including mental health, a primary concern; and may detain minors only in exceptional circumstances as a last resort in age-appropriate accommodations.  Australian law requires a legal guardian or custodian be appointed for unaccompanied children seeking asylum, and provides that they should be accommodated within the community wherever possible.  Canadian law mandates consideration of a child’s best interests in immigration matters, and minors are to be detained only as a measure of last resort.  In France, unaccompanied alien children may stay in France without a residency permit until they reach eighteen years of age, and France’s general law for child protection services applies to them.  Germany’s asylum law requires protection of the best interests of the child, which entails, among other things, temporary custody and services by the Youth Welfare Services agency of the German state in question.  Italy has a specific law for asylum and humanitarian protection of unaccompanied foreign minors that establishes extensive protective measures.  Under Swedish permanent law, unaccompanied minors, unlike adults, generally qualify as in need of 'other protection' and are eligible for permanent residence permits, as well as significant protections for children; even under a temporary law enacted in response to the 2015 refugee crisis, unaccompanied minors are generally allowed to remain in Sweden until adulthood.  In the UK, a specific provision requires the government to safeguard and promote the welfare of children when discharging all functions associated with immigration and asylum."

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