Immigrant minors deprived of their liberty, increasing poverty affecting children, too easy access to Internet pornography: France must take “urgent measures” to better protect the youngest, estimated this Friday the Human Rights Committee of Children’s UN.
In an assessment report, the Geneva-based committee says it is “seriously concerned” about the situation of migrant or asylum-seeking children. The French government must “put an end to the detention of children for immigration reasons, even in waiting areas” at airports, where “conditions are not adapted to children,” according to UN experts.
Challenged Practices
Authorities should also stop using bone tests to assess the age of unaccompanied foreigners presenting themselves as minors, as this method is unreliable, they say.
When these people are not recognized as minors but challenge this decision, they should be given the “benefit of the doubt” and continue to benefit from child protection services while their appeal is being examined, experts say.
The speakers also regret that many unaccompanied minors only have “limited access” to child protection structures, to “health and education, as well as accommodation.”
France should also “reconsider” the special rules that apply to Mayotte in terms of jus soli, and that limit the automatic adhesion to French nationality of children born on the island to foreign parents.
Long court decisions
Beyond the case of young migrants, the UN committee is concerned about the “excessively long” execution times of judicial decisions on the protection of vulnerable children, the cases of “violence and ill-treatment against children interned in institutions “, or even too frequent changes. of reception suffered by foster children.
Another concern is the “growing number of children” affected by poverty, especially in single-parent families. The UN denounces the persistence of “slums” and precarious housing situations where children remain for a long time in “emergency” accommodation.
Regarding sexual violence against children perpetrated “on a large scale” within the Catholic Church, the committee deplores “the low number of convictions” pronounced, and is concerned about a possible “failure of the State to carry out an independent investigation about this violence. , beyond the conclusions of the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church, whose work it salutes.
In addition, France must “block sites that offer pornographic content without verifying the age of users”, to protect the youngest, the authors believe.
A new plan to combat future violence
Prepared after a visit to Geneva by a delegation headed by the Secretary of State for Children, Charlotte Caubel, the report highlights “many advances in favor of children’s rights,” argues Charlotte Caubel’s entourage.
However, the government is “very aware of emergencies and of the road that remains to be covered,” added the same source.
In particular, the executive must soon announce a new plan to combat violence against children, as well as a communication campaign on sexual violence, has been advanced.
Source: BFM TV
