Veljko Turanjanin, LLD*
UNACCOMPANIED MIGRANT MINORS DETENTION BEFORE THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS
Summary
The author deals with the one of the most problematic issues of the migrant crisis, namely the deprivation of liberty of a unaccompanied migrant minor in his or her migrant journey. The situation of migrants in the crisis that has hit Europe is not easy in itself, but it is made even more difficult by the fact that children often travel with adult migrants, and the most difficult aspect of this phenomenon is certainly unaccompanied migrant children. The countries most affected by the influx of unaccompanied children are Greece and Malta. Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms lays down the grounds on which a person may be deprived of his liberty, and in recent years the European Court of Human Rights has elaborated in detail the basis for ordering detention of migrants. The author has paid the greatest attention to the views of this Court when it comes to unaccompanied migrant children analyzing all the judgments rendered by July 2019, and the difficulty of their position is sufficiently illustrated by the fact that the Court found violations of convention rights in all judgments in their deprivation of liberty.
Key words: unaccompanied minor, detention, migrant crisis, European Court of Human Rights, European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.