Migration governance and the child’s best interest

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is one of the most important tools to ensure the respect of children’s rights. On January 1st, 2020 this Convention became Swedish Law. From a migration perspective, the inclusion of the Convention in Swedish Law means that legal practitioners must take into account the rights that follow from the Convention when deliberating and assessing migration cases concerning children. Already in 1997, a statutory obligation was introduced to include the principle of the child’s best interest in Swedish migration matters. However, different studies have shown deficiencies in the impact of children’s rights in the area of migration.

Delmi’s Policy Brief 2020:5 Migration governance and the child’s best interest, authored by Louise Dane, is based on the dissertation “Migration governance and the best interests of the child: Children’s rights to family and private life as governed by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the European Convention on Human Rights, EU law and Swedish migration legislation” (Stockholm: Stockholm University). The Brief discusses the principle of the best interests of the child and the right to private and family life in relation to the societal interest of controlling immigration.

Dane’s recommendations include a more structured balance of interests in the legislation and clear, well-motivated decisions; to highlight the balance of interests in migration governance; and to clarify the meaning of the legal interest in migration law. These measures could contribute to a stronger impact on children’s rights and a reinforced legal certainty in migration cases concerning children’s right to private and family life.

Policy Brief 2020:5 is only available in Swedish.

Picture by Markus Spiske from Unsplash.

Migration governance and the child’s best interest

Download the Policy Brief (only available in Swedish)

More on the same theme

Teaching Recovery Techniques

Children and migration

The path of unaccompanied minors