Luxembourg’s Minister of Immigration and Asylum, Jean Asselbaum, defended a Bill that would extend the maximum period of retention for minor migrants and their families from 72 hours to seven days against criticism from the Council of Europe High Commissioner for Human Rights. 

On 6 February, Commissioner Nils Muižnieks expressed his concern at Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies’ examination of Bill 6992 on the free movement of persons and immigration, which includes the provision. 

“The detention of a migrant child, even if it is a measure taken as a last resort, is never in the child’s best interest.  Deprivation of liberty, even for a short period, is often a shocking if not traumatising experience for children and has extremely detrimental consequences for their mental health,” said Commissioner Muižnieks in his published statement. 

The Commissioner urged Luxembourg’s deputies to comply with their government’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.  

Minster Asselborn asserted that existing arrangements effectively amount to a rejection of asylum claims by the family’s of young children. He noted that as part of a Schengen evaluation in January 2016, Luxembourg was criticised as the only Member State of the European Union to have introduced a restriction to 72 hours of detention, which in practice Rejected applicants for international protection.

Thus, it was noted, in order to ensure the effective application of the Schengen system's requirements for the return of families with school children, the Government proposed to increase the retention period for rejected families with minors from 72 hours to a maximum of 7 days. The duration of the effective retention will be kept to the bare minimum for each case.

*Photo: Minster Asselborn