1st Edition

European Asylum Law and the Rights of the Child

By Ciara Smyth Copyright 2014
    264 Pages
    by Routledge

    262 Pages
    by Routledge

    The child asylum seeker poses unique challenges for reception and refugee status determination systems, not least because the child is entitled to have his or her rights as a child respected as a matter of international and regional human rights law. In the last decade the European Union has increasingly engaged with children’s rights, with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in December 2009, and a new Article 3(3) of the Treaty on European Union that commits the Union to promoting the ‘protection of the rights of the child.’

    This book addresses the question of whether the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) complies with the rights of the child. It contrasts the normative standards of international child rights law with the treatment of child asylum seekers and refugees in the CEAS. Ciara Smyth identifies the attributes of the rights of the child that are most relevant to the asylum context and systematically examines whether and to what extent those attributes are reflected in the CEAS legislation. The book goes on to assess whether the CEAS instruments direct Member States to comply with the rights of the child, offering a comprehensive examination of the place of the child within European asylum law and policy.

    The book will be of great use and interest to scholars and students of international law, immigration and children’s rights studies.  

    Introduction 1. Introduction to European asylum law   2. Introduction to the rights of the child and their relationship to European asylum law  3. The right of the child to seek and qualify for international protection  4. The right of the child to be heard  5. The right of the child to protection and care  6. Certain socio-economic rights of the child  7. The right of the child to liberty  Conclusion

    Biography

    Ciara Smyth is a Lecturer in law at the National University of Ireland, Galway.

    ... this book shines as a concise and comprehensive child rights-based assessment of European asylum law; and it is hoped that its sharp and critical legal analysis, combined with the sensitivity for children and their rights, will attract academics, students and legal practitioners, as well as policy-makers and legislators in Europe in order to further improve on a Common Child-sensitive European Asylum System. - Helmut Sax, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights, Vienna for International Journal of Refugee Law