6 Child-specific procedural safeguards To ensure that detention is not unlawful or arbitrary and, when imposed, does not limit fundamental rights unduly, European and international law contain a set of procedural safeguards (see Figure 14). Ø The most important procedural safeguards that apply regardless of age are the rights to: • free legal aid as a precondition to exercise the right to an effective remedy, as the procedures are complex, so one needs to be familiar with domestic law to access them effectively;249 • linguistic assistance.250 • judicial review, which is enshrined at all three levels – the EU  Charter, the ECHR and international human rights law247 – and expressly guaranteed by secondary EU law;248 Alongside these general safeguards are childspecific safeguards, which are the focus of this report. Figure 14: Five conditions deprivation of liberty must meet to not be unlawful and arbitrary Fundamental rights safeguards Clear legal basis in national law Based on allowed grounds Necessary and proportionate RESPECTS PROCEDURAL SAFEGUARDS Conditions are humane and dignified Source: FRA, 2017 247 EU Charter, Article 47 (right to an effective remedy); ECHR, Article 5 (4); ICCPR, Article 9 (4); Reception Conditions Directive, Article 9 (3); Return Directive, Article 15 (2) (a). 248 Reception Conditions Directive, Article 9 (3); Return Directive, Article 15 (2). 249 European Commission of Human Rights, Mohammed Zamir v. the United Kingdom, No. 9174/80, 11 October 1983, para. 113. See also ECtHR, Chahal v. United Kingdom [GC], No. 22414/93, 15 November 1996, para. 130; and ECtHR, Čonka v. Belgium, No. 51564/99, 5 February 2002, paras. 44–45 where the Court gave considerable importance to the lack of legal representation when determining whether an existing remedy was to be considered effective. Council of Europe Twenty Guidelines on Forced Return, Guideline 9; Reception Conditions Directive, Article 9 (6); Return Directive, Article 13 (4). 250 ECHR, Article 5 (2); Reception Conditions Directive, Article 9 (4); Return Directive, Article 12. 63