Over 45 people attended a side event on “Ending Child Immigration Detention” held at the 26th Session of the UN Human Rights Council this June in Geneva, Switzerland.
Generously co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Italy and Mexico to the United Nations in Geneva, the side event provided crucial insights on the many reasons why children migrate, on the mental and physical health harms to children in places of immigration detention, and on why it can never be in the best interests of a child to be detained solely on the basis of their or their parents’ immigration status. The side event featured the participation of:
- Mr. Farah Abdullahi Abdi, formerly detained child migrant
- Mr. Amadeo Trambajolo, Minister Counsellor, Deputy Permanent Representative, Mission of Italy
- Mr. Raul Heredia, Ambassador, Permanent Representative, Mission of Mexico
- Mr. Francios Crepeau, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants
The side event was co-organised by Save the Children International, the International Detention Coalition (IDC), the Terre des Hommes International Federation, and the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM).
In conjunction with this side event, the IDC also participated in the submission of a joint oral statement before the Human Rights Council on ending immigration detention of children, which featured the voices of children who have been detained on the basis of their immigration status. The full oral statement is available here.
The side event was only one step in a larger process of promoting the rights of children on the move and to ending child immigration detention as an “achievable priority” in the coming years. For more information on this event, contact IDC Advocacy Coordinator, Ben Lewis ([email protected]).