Assessing necessity and proportionality EU Member State Upper age limita LU Children who are too young to be separated from their mother M Grand-Ducal Regulation of March 24, 1989, Regarding the Administration and the Internal Regulations of Penitentiary Establishments (Règlement grand-ducal du 24 mars 1989 concernant l’administration et le régime interne des établissements pénitentiaires) Article 142 LV 4 M Latvia, The Sentence Execution Code of Latvia (Latvijas Sodu izpildes kodekss), 23 December 1970 (with amendments until 12 September 2013), Section 77, para. 5 MT 1 M Malta, Prisons Regulations, S.L. 260.03 of the Laws of Malta, Regulation 38(2) NL 9 months (4) M+F PL 3 M Applies to Source The Netherlands, Penitentiary Principles Act (Penitentiaire beginselenwet), Article 12, Section 2 Poland, Executive criminal code (Ustawa z dnia 6 czerwca 1997 r. Kodeks karny wykonawczy) 6 June 1997, Article 87 Portugal, Law 115/2009 on the Code for Executing Punishments and Measures to Deprive Freedom (Lei nº 115/2009 sobre o código de execução de penas e medidas privativas de liberdade), 12 October 2009, Article 7 (1) (g) PT 3 (5) M+F RO x – SE infant M+F SI 1 (2) M Enforcement of Criminal Sanctions Act (Zakon o izvrševanju kazenskih sankcij, ZIKS-1), adopted on 23 February 2000, with subsequent amendments, Article 62 M+F Slovakia, Act No. 475/2005, Act on Prison Sentence as amended (Zákon č. 475/2005 Z. z. Zákon o výkone trestu odňatia slobody a o zmene a doplnení niektorých zákonov), 26 October 2005, Articles 74 (4) and 62 (2) SK UK 3 (5) 1.5 M Not relevant Sweden, Act on Imprisonment (Fängelselag [2010:610]), 10 June 2010, Chapter 2, Section 3 United Kingdom, HM Government (1999), The Prison Rules 1999, 10 March 1999, rule 12; UK, HM Ministry of Justice (2014), Prison Instruction 49/2014: Mother & Baby Units, December 2014, p. 3; UK, HM Government (1995), The Prison and Young Offenders Centre Rules (Northern Ireland) 1995, 10 January 1995, rule 92; UK, HM Government (2011), The Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 2011, 12 September 2011, rule 128 Notes: M = mothers; M+F = both parents. Older age limit in brackets when applicable in exceptional cases. Further exceptions are not captured in the table – for example, when the parents are under 18 or specific rules set up by German Länder. a Source: FRA, 2017 (based on sources listed in table) The situation is different for immigration detention. Justified by the principle of family unity, most EU Member States do not exclude the possibility that children may accompany the parents in detention, regardless of the age of the child. For example, in Austria, foreigners who are detained pending removal may be accompanied by the minors under their guardianship, although only if the accommodation is child-friendly.202 202 Austria, Article 79 (5) Alien Police Act (Fremdenpolizeigesetz), Section 4 (4) of the Detention Order (Anhalteordnung). Deprivation of liberty for migration-related purposes is not necessarily based on a careful assessment of the best interests of the child, as in some cases the decision depends on the will of the parents. In Latvia, although national law prohibits migration detention of children below the age of 14, detained parents can request that the children stay with them.203 In Spain, migrants in an irregular situation who are detained in detention have the right to have their underage children accommodated with them, but only if the prosecutor’s 203 Latvia, Section 591(2), (3),(5), Immigration Law. 55