Can Immigration Detention Ever Be in the Best Interests of the Child? The Detention of Unaccompanied Minors in Europe Under International and European Law

Abstract

This article analyses how law and judicial practice on the detention of unaccompanied migrant children in Europe reflect a fundamental tension between migration policies and children’s rights. At the universal level, interpretation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child has evolved toward a substantive prohibition of migration-related child detention. Yet this development remains only partially internalised in Europe. EU law still permits detention as an exceptional measure, while the EU Pact risks expanding de facto detention. Meanwhile, the Committee on the Rights on the Child addresses this issue inconsistently in its case law and the ECtHR condemns harmful conditions but avoids declaring a general ban. These inconsistencies contribute to the normalisation of a practice increasingly rejected under international human rights law.