LONDON: The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) urged European countries to stop detaining migrant and refugee children on Tuesday, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
The UN organizations presented a set of safe and humane alternatives to child detention, calling on 38 countries in the European region to implement them.
These alternatives include supported independent living, living with family hosts and other child-friendly models that offer cost-effective solutions.
Afshan Khan, UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, and the Special Coordinator for Refugee Response in Europe, stated that the detention of children is a violation of their human rights regardless of their country of origin and reasons for leaving.
Ola Henrikson, IOM Regional Director for Europe, has called for increased national data collection and monitoring capabilities in Europe so that countries can better receive and protect migrant children.