Children at the Heart of Human Rights
University of Geneva Summer School, 17-28 June 2019
Around the world, children continue to be held in immigration detention, despite the fact that many authoritative rights agencies agree that detention is fundamentally at odds with their best interests. Even in some states where legislation prevents the detention of children, minors are “housed” with their parents in detention, or “accompany” their parents behind bars. The experience of detention can have multiple severe impacts on children, with reports highlighting that it leads to delays in language development, trauma, and anxiety, and that many detained children also display regressive behaviour such as bed wetting, difficulty eating and sleeping, and emotional distress.
In a presentation to students and young professionals participating in the University of Geneva’s Summer School—“Children at the Heart of Human Rights,”—the GDP’s Michael Flynn discussed these issues, and argued that not detaining minors should be framed as an obligation, not as an “alternative.”
