UN experts advocate for an end to migrant children detention

A United Nations Task Force estimates that at least 330,000 children are deprived of their liberty every year around the world based on their or their parents’ status, stressing that these figures are possibly a significant under-estimate.

This is a form of violence that impacts a country’s capacity to facilitate orderly, safe, and responsible mobility of people, and ensure all children are cared for and protected from violence, abuse, or exploitation.

“Immigration detention of children is never in their best interests; it is a form of violence and a violation of children’s rights,” said Najat Maalla M’jid, SRSG on Violence Against Children and chair of the UN Task Force on Children Deprived of Liberty. UN Human Rights is a member of that task force.

M’jid was speaking at the launch of the task force’s Advocacy brief to end immigration detention of children, which points out that at least 80 countries have laws and policies that allow children to be detained based on their or their parents’ migratory status.

M’jid added that the detention of these children is prohibited under international human rights law and standards and should be banned in national legal frameworks.

The task force was established to coordinate a follow-up to the United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty.

It took stock of progress made in the past five years and identified promising practices in countries that have taken various actions to end child immigration detention.

A spike in apprehensions of migrant children crossing the southern U.S. border without a parent or guardian has overwhelmed the systems set up to care for them and reinvigorated debate over the detention of minors.

The administration of President Donald Trump framed the influx of asylum seekers—both adults and minors—as a national security threat, and his administration implemented a suite of policies to deter migrants. Critics argued that this response exacerbated Central America’s humanitarian crisis, broke U.S. law, and violated international human rights norms.

President Joe Biden promised to overhaul Trump’s immigration policy, but his administration has struggled to address growing migrant flows as socioeconomic conditions worsen across Latin America.

The UN team found that alternatives to detention have been beneficial for children and families affected by detention and are more human-rights compliant by ensuring children’s wellbeing, more effective by producing higher rates of case resolution, and less costly as they keep children with their families in their communities.

“Over the last years, we have observed an increased high-level leadership and commitment in ending immigration detention for children and finding alternatives to detention as highlighted in the brief,” M’jid said. “But let’s not forget that ending child immigration detention is not just about releasing them. It requires providing children with documentation and access to integrated services.”

The task forces also stressed that, despite progress made, several key policy actions have yet to be taken by states.

These include adopting the explicit legal prohibition of child detention based on their legal or migratory status; ensuring that national child protection systems are fully inclusive of migrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking children; and ensuring children’s access to justice and education, healthcare, and social protection, regardless of theirs or their parents’ status.

“We have to keep in mind that children on the move are children first and foremost and their rights move with them, and that detention is never in their best interests!” M’jid said.

The right to liberty of a person is a fundamental right guaranteed to everyone without discrimination, including all migrants, irrespective of status. Immigration detention should be a last resort and not be used to compel return, and should be avoided completely in the case of children and other groups in vulnerable situations.

“We must unequivocally reject the detention of children, thus recognizing its prohibition and inherent contradiction to their best interests,” said Carolina Hernandez, UN Human Rights’ advisor on migration and human rights. “We should also move towards establishing a global presumption against detention. This foundational principle underscores that liberty should be the norm, not the exception.”