European legal and policy framework on immigration detention of children 3.1.2. Immigration detention of unaccompanied children under national law Half of the EU  Member States do not allow unaccompanied children to be detained for asylum and/ or return purposes. Whereas some national laws ban their detention in both situations, others disallow it only in one, making it possible in the other. The significant number of EU Member States that prohibit immigration detention of unaccompanied children indicate that it is possible to implement sustainable asylum and return procedures without depriving unaccompanied children of their liberty. Such a ban on child detention is effective in preventing arbitrary detention of unaccompanied children. As such detention is only very exceptionally allowed under EU law, it is also a pragmatic way to avoid detailed assessments of whether or not deprivation of liberty is necessary and proportionate in each individual case (see Chapter 5). A significant number of EU  Member States do not provide the possibility of detaining unaccompanied children for asylum purposes, whereas in other countries it may be possible in certain, although often exceptional, cases. Fourteen Member States do not allow detention of unaccompanied children under one or more of the grounds set out in Article 8 (3) of the Reception Conditions Directive and Article 28 of the Dublin Regulation (Figure 5). In three Member States the prohibition on detaining unaccompanied asylum-seeking children appears to be based on general provisions that envisage Figure 5: Detention of unaccompanied children in asylum procedures Forbidden by law Allowed by law Source: FRA, 2017 (based on sources listed in Annex 1) 36