Council Of Europe Commissioner Opposes Legislation Imprisoning Children

Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe opposes the planned detention of children, soon to be implemented with a new legislation establishing refugee camps in Iceland. Alþingi’s committee for general and educational affairs — which oversees the bill — received a letter from Commissioner Michael O’Flaherty who called for it to remove legal paragraph allowing children to be imprisoned, RÚV reports.

The new bill, proposed by Minister for Judicial Affairs and Liberal Reform MP Þorbjörg Sigríður Gunnlaugsdóttir last autumn, is set to establish detention camps for refugees in Iceland. The bill currently allows for children to be imprisoned in the proposed camps and camp staff to enforce disciplinary punishment.

A violation of the UNCRC

The Human Rights Commissioner directs his concerns to the stipulation which allows children to be detained at the camp for up to nine days.

In his letter, he cites Iceland’s commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, requiring states to respect, protect, and guarantee the rights of children without discrimination, independent of their family’s status. Imprisoning children is a direct violation of the charter.

Michael O’Flaherty urges committee members to make changes to the bill by removing the relevant clauses.

The bill was submitted to the government’s open consultation portal last autumn. Four human rights organisations, UNICEF, Save the Children, Öryrkjabandalag Íslands, and Þroskahjálp, expressed their concerns about imprisoning refugee children.

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