No EU compromises at the expense of the rights of refugee children
Osnabrück, June 6, 2023 - terre des hommes and 45 other children's and human rights organizations, as well as local associations and psychosocial centers, are calling on the German Federal Government in a joint appeal to oppose the reform proposals for the common European asylum system at the upcoming meeting of EU interior ministers on June 8, as these endanger the rights and well-being of refugee children and young people.
“Around 30 years ago, the German Bundestag passed the most severe amendment to asylum law in the Basic Law to date, the 1993 asylum compromise. Today, the German government is facing a similarly profound change to European asylum law,” said Sophia Eckert, legal and migration expert at terre des hommes . “The reform plans currently being negotiated for a common European asylum system represent a sell-out of the human rights of refugees in the EU. They also represent a sell-out of children’s rights, as they blatantly violate the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is also part of our fundamental European rights.”
According to plans currently being discussed at the level of the EU Council of Interior Ministers, refugee children and young people would most likely also be affected by detention or detention-like measures at the EU's external borders. This violates the right to protection from torture and deprivation of liberty, enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and can have serious consequences for the health and development of children and young people. "Numerous studies have documented the harmful effects of migrant detention on children. These include depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and symptoms such as insomnia, nightmares, and bedwetting. Feelings of hopelessness and frustration can also lead to self-harm and harm to others," says Eckert. "It makes no difference whether the detention is officially termed 'detention' or not. Massive restrictions on freedom of movement, barbed wire fences, and armed security forces mean that children are imprisoned." Such accommodation violates their rights." The alliance therefore calls on the Federal Government to remain true priority paper on the reform of the Common European Asylum System of April 26
The change to the legal framework of the European asylum system would most likely also mean that refugee children and young people would no longer be able to challenge erroneous official decisions. "In all procedural steps, from registration and the determination of responsibility to the conclusion of the border procedure, there is a lack of sufficient means to effectively challenge official decisions," said Sophia Eckert. "Children and young people, for example, have no legal recourse against erroneous age assessments, especially since age assessments could be carried out during border procedures using inhumane and unreliable medical methods."
Finally, the planned expansion of the concept of safe third countries threatens massive repercussions for the protection of asylum seekers in the EU. According to the current reform plans, their asylum applications could be rejected without any individual assessment of their reasons for fleeing, as long as they are afforded a minimum level of protection in parts of a non-European country. Since this would apply to almost all arrivals in the EU, it could, in the worst-case scenario, mean the complete abandonment of refugee protection within the EU. "This would leave children and young people, who have fled their home countries to escape child-specific persecution such as forced marriage or forced recruitment as child soldiers, to their fate. We appeal to the German government not to follow this path of disenfranchisement for refugee children and young people in the EU," said Eckert.
Further information:
Appeal to the Federal Government regarding its position on the reform of the Common European Asylum System: No compromises at the expense of refugee protection
The appeal is supported by:
Amadeu Antonio Foundation, Amnesty International Germany, Working Group on Migration Law within the German Bar Association, AWO Federal Association, Bordermonitoring.eu, Federal Association of Unaccompanied Minor Refugees (BumF), Federal Association of Psychosocial Centers for Refugees and Victims of Torture (BAfF), Federal Association of PRO ASYL, Alliance for Child and Youth Health (Bündnis KJG), The Paritätische Gesamtverband (Parity Welfare Association), German Society for Systemic Therapy, Counseling and Family Therapy (DGSF), German Children's Aid Organization (Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk), Diakonie Germany, DISCOVER FOOTBALL, ECPAT Germany, Equal Rights Beyond Borders, Exil, Refugee Council of Lower Saxony, FORUM HUMAN RIGHTS – Network of German Human Rights Organizations, Frankfurt Working Group on Trauma and Exile, Leisure for Young Refugees Exil, GRIPS Werke, IPPNW - German Section International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War / Physicians in Social Responsibility, International Rescue Committee IRC Germany, Jesuit Refugee Service Germany, JUMEN eV - Legal Human Rights Work in Germany, Kindernothilfe eV, Youth Without Borders eV, Kindernothilfe eV, Children's Rights Forum (KRF), #LeaveNoOneBehind, Lesbian and Gay Federation (LSVD), Medical Refugee Aid Bochum eV, MISSION LIFELINE INTERNATIONAL eV, National Coalition Germany – Network for the Implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, New Association of Judges (NRV), Plan International Germany eV, REFUGIO Thuringia - Psychosocial Center for Refugees and Survivors of Torture, Republican Lawyers' Association eV (RAV), Save the Children Germany eV, SOS Children's Villages eV, terre des hommes Germany eV, Association of Binational Families and Partnerships, iaf eV Altona Housing Ship Project eV, Worldvision Germany eV, XENION – Psychosocial Support for Politically Persecuted People eV, Center for Survival