European legal and policy framework on immigration detention of children The Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT), established under the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT),384 is allowed to visit “any place […] where persons are or may be deprived of their liberty […] with a view to strengthening, if necessary, the protection of these persons against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.385 Since January 2015, the subcommittee has visited detention facilities in Cyprus,386 Italy,387 the Netherlands388 and Romania.389 Except in the Netherlands, all visits were to immigration detention facilities. The mandates of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants also include visits to detention facilities. However, neither visited any EU Member States between January 2015 and April 2017. In Europe, the monitoring body that most frequently visits places where persons are deprived of liberty is the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), established under the Council of Europe. It frequently visits immigration detention facilities that hold asylum seekers and persons in return procedures. It has developed standards for conditions in immigration detention facilities, including specific standards for children (see Chapter 6).390 In some of its most recent missions to immigration detention facilities, the CPT drew special attention to the situation of children in detention. 88 purposeful activities”. More specifically, the committee recommended that Greek authorities no longer use the Amygdaleza special holding facility or the Petrou Ralli special holding facility to detain unaccompanied children; instead, they should find more suitable premises, preferably open.391 Similarly, on a visit to Hungary, the committee recommended that the detention of families with children in detention centres should be only a last resort and last as short as possible. It stressed that “immediate steps should be taken at Békéscsaba Asylum Reception Centre and Unit Kárpát 2 of the Kiskunhalas Guarded Shelter to provide young children with appropriate care and activities suitable for their age”.392 In another report following a visit to the Czech Republic, the CPT stated “that the accommodation of children accompanying their parent(s) together with other adults in a detention centre can have a negative psychological effect on the child’s development and well-being, particularly when the child is young”. With reference to their particular vulnerability, the CPT also recommended that the necessary measures be taken to ensure that unaccompanied or separated children “are always provided with special care and accommodated in an open (or semi-open) establishment specialised for juveniles (e.g. a social welfare/educational institution for juveniles)”.393 For instance, it recommended that “Greek authorities take the necessary steps to ensure that unaccompanied minors […] are only held in centres designed to cater to their specific needs, staffed with properly trained men and women and offering a range of age-appropriate National monitoring bodies complement such supranational bodies. The OPCAT requires States Parties to set up National Preventive Mechanisms. By the end of April 2017, 24 EU Member States had established such bodies, most of which deal with immigration detention of children. Belgium, Latvia and Slovakia have not ratified the Optional Protocol and Ireland has not yet set up a National Preventive Mechanism.394 Table 12 provides example of reports that cover immigration detention of children. 384 UN, Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT), 18 December 2002. 385 OPCAT, Article 4(1). 386 UN, OHCHR, ‘UN experts urge Cyprus to address migrant detention conditions, improve overall monitoring’, 1 February 2016. Official visit report not published yet. 387 UN, Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (SPT) (2016), Report on the visit made by the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Punishment to Italy, Report to the State Party, 23 September 2016, CAT/OP/ITA/1. 388 UN, SPT, Visit to the Netherlands for the purpose of providing advisory assistance to the national preventive mechanism: recommendations and observations addressed to the State party, Report of the Subcommittee, 3 November 2016, CAT/OP/NLD/1. 389 UN, OHCHR, ‘UN torture prevention experts urge Romania to tackle prison overcrowding’ 12 May 2016. 390 CPT, Factsheet on Immigration detention, CPT/Inf(2017)3, March 2017.. 391 Council of Europe, CPT (2016) Report to the Greek Government on the visit to Greece from 14 to 23 April 2015, CPT/Inf (2016) 4, 1 March 2016, paras. 105–108. 392 Council of Europe, CPT (2016), Report to the Hungarian Government on the visit to Hungary from 21 to 27 October 2015, CPT/Inf (2016) 27, 3 November 2016, para. 44. 393 Council of Europe, CPT (2015), Report to the Czech Government on the visit to the Czech Republic carried out from 1 to 10 April 2014, CPT/Inf (2015) 18, 31 March 2015, paras. 32-33. 394 Ireland, Department of Justice and Equality, Parliamentary Question 21723/16 on the 14 July 2016.