Berlin/Osnabrück, 06.12.23-On the occasion of tomorrow's trilogue negotiations on the common European asylum system, terre des hommes , together with the German Kinderhilfswerk, Save the Children, SOS Children's Village and other organizations, call for the Federal Government and EU parliamentarians to a turnaround in the reform of European refugee law. If the plans are passed in the current form, this political decision means a further step in disregard for children's rights. With a view to children and adolescents, the organizations warn in particular of the introduction of border procedures in detention, the expansion of safe third countries and the lowering of procedural guarantees.
»Refugee children are primarily children. You have a right to a childhood to safety, far away from barbed wire and misery. For tomorrow's negotiating marathon, we therefore demand that fighting for the rights and the well -being of refugee children and adolescents to the last moment of negotiation. Even if the negotiations on the reform of the common European asylum system are far advanced, it is not yet too late to do the right thing, «explains Sophia Eckert, migration and right-wing expert at terre des hommes .
According to the known reform proposals, refugee children and adolescents would also be affected by border procedures under detention or placement-like accommodation at the EU external borders. This violates the right to protect against torture and deprivation of liberty in the UN Convention on the Child Rights. »It must be ensured that children and adolescents of all ages are exceptionally excluded from border methods. The Child Rights Convention does not make any other choice, ”says Eckert,» Border procedures without detention or conditions that are in prison, an illusion is an illusion. Some EU foreign countries are already imprisoned for children and adolescents who are contrary to children and adolescents due to their residence status. It is doubtful that this will change through the introduction of border procedures that are supposed to prevent people from entering the EU. "