Best Interests of the Child: A Right

A Principle and A Rule Of Procedure

1. Article 3, paragraph 1, of the Convention on the Rights of the Child gives the child the right to have his or her best interests assessed and taken into account as a primary consideration in all actions or decisions that concern him or her, both in the public and private sphere. Moreover, it expresses one of the fundamental values of the Convention. The Committee on the Rights of the Child (the Committee) has identified article 3, paragraph 1, as one of the four general principles of the Convention for interpreting and implementing all the rights of the child,1 and applies it is a dynamic concept that requires an assessment appropriate to the specific context.

2. The concept of the "child's best interests" is not new. Indeed, it pre-dates the Convention and was already enshrined in the 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child (para. 2), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (arts. 5 (b) and 16, para. 1 (d)), as well as in regional instruments and many national and international laws.

3. The Convention also explicitly refers to the child's best interests in other articles: article 9: separation from parents; article 10: family reunification; article 18: parental responsibilities; article 20: deprivation of family environment and alternative care; article 21: adoption; article 37(c): separation from adults in detention; article 40, paragraph 2 (b)

(iii): procedural guarantees, including presence of parents at court hearings for penal matters involving children in conflict with the law. Reference is also made to the child's best interests in the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (preamble and art. 8) and in the Optional Protocol to the Convention on a communications procedure (preamble and arts. 2 and 3).

4. The concept of the child's best interests is aimed at ensuring both the full and effective enjoyment of all the rights recognized in the Convention and the holistic development of the child.2 The Committee has already pointed out3 that "an adult's judgment of a child's best interests cannot override the obligation to respect all the child's rights under the Convention." It recalls that there is no hierarchy of rights in the Convention; all the rights provided for therein are in the "child's best interests" and no right could be compromised by a negative interpretation of the child's best interests.
Read more: <> UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

Demonstration to Save Immigration Justice

Tuesday 4th June 2013
Ministry of Justice
102 Petty France
London SW1H 9AJ
(Nearest Tube, St James Park)

Protest against Ministry of Justice proposals for legal aid cuts that will

- make government bodies less accountable

- exclude vulnerable individuals including migrants and prisoners from accessing justice

- destroy quality of criminal defence

Speakers: Dinah Rose QC, Stephen Knafler QC, Nick Armstrong (Matrix), Chidrens' Society, Deepti Patel (Kids Co), Liberty, Sue Willman (Deighton Pierce Glynn).

Demonstration Supported by: Fahamu Refugee Programme Garden Court Chambers, Wilson Solicitors, Liberty, Matrix Chambers

Rafaa v. France - Violation of Article 3

(in the event of the applicant's expulsion to Morocco)

(application no. 25393/10)

The applicant, Rachid Rafaa, is a Moroccan national who was born in 1976 and lives in Metz (France). The case concerned his extradition to Morocco, which he claimed would jeopardise his life and safety. After arriving in France illegally from Morocco, where he alleged he had been detained and tortured by the secret services because of his support for the Sahrawi cause, Mr Rafaa was apprehended and placed in administrative detention. When the Moroccan authorities issued an international arrest warrant against him for acts of terrorism, he was imprisoned with a view to his extradition in 2009. The French courts approved the extradition. The applicant appealed but his appeal was dismissed in 2010. The French authorities issued a decree with a view to his extradition, and his appeal to the Conseil d'État was rejected in 2011. In the meantime Mr Rafaa had also applied for asylum, but that application was rejected in 2010, as was his application for legal aid to appeal on points of law. The applicant alleged in particular that his extradition to Morocco would expose him to risks of treatment contrary to Article 3 (prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment).

Violation of Article 3 (in the event of the applicant's expulsion to Morocco)

Interim measure (Rule 39 of the Rules of Court) - not to expel Mr Rafaa - still in force until judgment becomes final or until further order.

Just satisfaction: The applicant did not submit any claim for just satisfaction.

Judgement only available in French

Vince Cable, Immigration Panic 'Puts Off Overseas Students,'

Public "panic" over immigration is causing harm to the economy, the Business Secretary has warned. Vince Cable said overseas students were being deterred from studying at British institutions and tight visa controls were causing difficulties for foreign experts working here. Overseas students were being caught up in the "very torrid and emotional" argument about the number of immigrants, he said.

Official figures just released reveal that, in the year to September 2012, net migration fell, with a 22 per cent decrease in the number of foreign students.

Mr Cable said: "When the numbers decline, this is a great triumph for immigration control, which is quite absurd and, unfortunately, is seriously distorting the debate on sensible university policy and, indeed, sensible immigration policy. "I just want to make absolutely clear, as far as the Government is concerned, we have no cap on the number of overseas students, we don't propose to introduce one." There had been a "substantial" reduction in the number of Indian students, he added.
David Hughes, Indpendent, <> Wednesday 29 May 2013

Surviving the First Day: State of the World's Mothers 2013

The birth of a child should be a time of wonder and celebration. But for millions of mothers and babies in developing countries, it is a dance with death. Every year, nearly 3 million babies die within the first month of life, most from preventable causes. More than a third of these babies die on their first day of life – making the birth day the riskiest day for newborns and mothers almost everywhere.

Every year, 287,000 women die during pregnancy or childbirth, and 6.9 million children die before reaching their fifth birthday. Almost all these deaths occur in developing countries where mothers, children and newborns lack access to basic health care.

Top ten worst countries to be a mother:
DR Congo, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Mali, Niger, Central African Republic, Gambia, Nigeria,
Chad, Côte d'Ivoire

(United Kingdom could only come 23rd as the best place to be a mother, well behind most European Union Countries)

Nearly two-thirds of all newborn deaths (2 million out of 3 million each year) occur in just 10 countries. Many of these countries have very large populations (such as China and Indonesia) and others have high percentages of newborns dying (Afghanistan, DR Congo, Ethiopia and Tanzania). Several have both large populations and high newborn mortality rates (Bangladesh, India, Nigeria and Pakistan). These are places where mothers are also at high risk of death during pregnancy and childbirth – 59 percent of maternal deaths occur in these same 10 countries.

Download the full report: Refworld 29/05/13

Children In and Out of Detention: Q1 2013
In the first quarter of 2013, 37 children entered detention, a decrease of 16 on the first quarter of 2012, this fall coinciding with the closure of Tinsley House from 18 January to 20 March 2013 to new entrants due to an infectious illness.

Of the 38 children leaving detention in the first quarter of 2013, 24 were removed from the UK and the remaining 14 (37%) were granted temporary admission or release. Of those leaving detention, 34 had been detained for less than three days, three for between four and seven days and one had been detained, in Campsfield House, for between two and three months. The percentage of children removed from the UK on leaving detention has risen from 41% in 2010 to 48% in 2012 and 63% in the first quarter of 2013.

Adults In and Out of detention: Q1 2013
As of the end of March 2013, 2,853 people were in detention, 6% fewer than the number recorded at the end of March 2012.

Length of detention: Of the 7,093 leaving detention during the first quarter of 2013, 4,420 (62%) had been in detention for less than 29 days, 1,209 (17%) for between 29 days and two months and 912 (13%) for between two and four months. Of the 552 (8%) remaining, 56 had been in detention for between one and two years and 18 for two years or longer.

Of the 2,534 detained for seven days or less, 1,743 (69%) were removed and 735 (29%) were granted temporary admission or release. Of the 74 detained for 12 months or more, 24 (32%) were removed, 17 (23%) were granted temporary admission or release, 30 (41%) were bailed and 3 (4%) left for other reasons.

In the year ending March 2013, 28,735 people entered detention, an increase of 4% compared with the previous year (27,596). Over the same period there was an increase of 6% in those leaving detention (from 27,163 to 28,761). Of those leaving detention, 60% were removed from the UK.

Figures presented here do not include those held in police cells, Prison Service establishments, short-term holding rooms at ports and airports (for less than 24 hours) and those recorded as detained under both criminal and immigration powers and their dependants.

Top Ten Nationalities entering detention Q1/2013

Pakistan 1,322
India 949
Bangladesh 496
Nigeria 482
Afghanistan 349
Albania 262
Iran 227
Vietnam 205
Sri Lanka 199
Ghana 144

Source Verbatim: <> Immigration Statistics Q1 2013
detention tables dt 01 q, dt 04 q and dt 09 q.