CRC concluding observations 2023, paragraph 50
Plain English recommendation
Government should: (a) Urgently change the Illegal Migration Bill: take out any provisions that would lead to violations of children’s rights under the CRC and the 1951 Refugee Convention, and ensure all provisions in the Bill are in line with international human rights law; (b) Change the Nationality and Borders Act by removing the ‘Group 2’ status of certain groups of refugee children, and ensure that all asylum-seeking and refugee children are supported and not treated as criminals; (c) Review and improve the asylum process to ensure that: • children get appropriate information and legal advice about their rights and about the asylum process • children’s best interests are the priority in all asylum processes • children are listened to and their views are taken on board; and • they can access child-friendly ways to get justice; (d) Do more to ensure that all asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children can access education, health services, housing, mental health support and social protection, including benefits; (e) End the current unreliable and invasive ways of working out a child’s age and introduce a more sensitive approach that: • includes assessments by different relevant professionals of a child’s maturity and level of development • respects the legal principle of the benefit of the doubt • allows children to access legal advice and challenge the assessment outcome; (f) Ensure that children and those whose age is disputed are not sent to a third country; (g) Set up an system of independent guardianship for all unaccompanied children; ensure that all unaccompanied children are identified quickly and that a trained guardian is appointed for them; (h) Ensure that children have an unqualified right to apply for family reunification and consider all applications consistently and quickly, putting the child’s best interest first.
Original UN recommendation
With reference to joint general comments No. 3 and No. 4 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families/No. 22 and No. 23 (2017) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the human rights of children in the context of international migration, the Committee urges the State party to: (a) Urgently amend the Illegal Migration Bill to repeal all draft provisions that would have the effect of violating children’s rights under the Convention and the 1951 Refugee Convention, and bring the Bill in line with the State party’s obligations under international human rights law to ensure children’s right to nationality, to seek asylum and to have their best interests taken as a primary consideration, as well as to prevent their prolonged detention and removal; (b) Amend the Nationality and Borders Act to abolish the designation of “Group 2” status to certain groups of refugee children, and ensure that all asylum-seeking and refugee children, including unaccompanied children, are not criminalized and have access to necessary support and services; (c) Review and strengthen the asylum process to ensure that children receive age-appropriate information and legal advice about their rights, asylum procedures and requirements for documentation; that their best interests are given primary consideration in all asylum processes; that their views are heard, taken into account and given due weight; and that they have access to child-friendly justice mechanisms and remedies; (d) Strengthen measures to ensure that all asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children have equal and prompt access to education, health services, housing, psychosocial support, and social protection including benefit entitlements; (e) Put an end to the use of unreliable and invasive procedures for determining a child’s age; develop an age determination procedure that is child- and gender-sensitive, includes multidisciplinary assessments conducted by relevant professionals of the child’s maturity and level of development, and respects the legal principle of the benefit of the doubt; and ensure that children have access to legal advice throughout the process and, if necessary, can challenge the outcome of such assessments; (f) Ensure that children and age-disputed children are not removed to a third country; (g) Develop a consistent, statutory system of independent guardianship for all unaccompanied children, and ensure that all unaccompanied children throughout all jurisdictions of the State party are promptly identified and appointed a professionally trained guardian; (h) Review its system of family reunification involving unaccompanied children, with a view to ensuring that children have an unqualified right to apply for family reunification and that applications are considered in a consistent, expeditious and child rights-based approach, and that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration in all related decisions.
Date of UN examination
18/05/2023
UN article number
22, 30, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37 (b)–(d), 38–40
Original UN document
Download the original CRC concluding observations 2023 on the UN website.