Child-specific procedural safeguards Tools and guidance: Guardianship for children deprived of parental care – a FRA handbook The guardian, being the independent person who safeguards the best interests and general well-being of the child, should be involved and consulted in issues related to the detention and detention conditions of unaccompanied children. FRA published a  handbook in 2014 to promote a  shared understanding of the main features of guardianship and to help standardise guardianship practice in the Member States. The handbook provides guidance and recommendations to EU  Member States on strengthening guardianship systems, setting forth the core principles, and the fundamental design and management of such systems. It aims to improve conditions for children under guardianship and promotes respect for their fundamental rights. The handbook has a  specific focus on child victims of trafficking, but it generally covers guardianship systems for all children who are deprived of parental care, including unaccompanied migrant or asylum-seeking children. The guardian differs from a  qualified lawyer, who provides legal aid to a child deprived of liberty. Article 37 (d) of the CRC enshrines that right, stating that “[e]very child deprived of his or her liberty shall have the right to prompt access to legal […] assistance” to challenge the detention decision. EU law recognises the importance of legal guardianship, but does not define its functions. Proposed legislative changes clarify that the guardian is “a person or organisation appointed to assist and represent an unaccompanied child with a view to safeguarding the best interests of the child and his or her general well-being in [asylum] procedures and exercising legal capacity for the minor where necessary.”272 The current versions of the Reception Conditions Directive and Asylum Procedures Directive both provide for the right of unaccompanied children to be provided a legal representative only.273 The majority of EU  Member States have entrusted guardianship functions to municipal or local social services, and only a few Member States have a central guardianship authority at the national level, as FRA reported in a comparative study on guardianship. When a Member State implements guardianship at regional or local level, it sometimes applies different approaches in different parts of the country. Most of the EU Member States assign guardianship duties to natural or legal persons. A few Member States have set up a separate guardianship system for unaccompanied children who have only a temporary right to stay in the Member State or no right to stay at all. However, in practice, 272 European Commission, Proposal for a Regulation establishing a common procedure for international protection in the Union and repealing Directive 2013/32/ EU, Article 4 (f) and European Commission, Proposal for a Directive laying down standards for the reception of applicants for international protection (recast), Article 2 (12). 273 Reception Conditions Directive, Articles 2(n) 24 and Asylum Procedures Directive, Articles 2 (j) and 25. differentiated arrangements are in place in many more Member States depending on the specific status of the child.274 Guardians have a key role in safeguarding the best interests of unaccompanied children in the various proceedings. They could support the child during age assessment procedure and ensure that special procedural safeguards are in place, such as access to information and free legal aid. In cooperation with other competent authorities, guardians could contribute to effective monitoring of the facilities used to hold children and facilitate access to complaint mechanisms. Finally, they could contribute significantly to the individual assessment required to order or review a detention decision for an unaccompanied child. However, often guardians are assigned late or not at all. According to CPT standards, unaccompanied or separated children deprived of their liberty should be provided with prompt and free access to legal and other appropriate assistance, including the assignment of a legal representative or guardian who keeps them informed of their legal situation and effectively protects their interests. Review mechanisms should also be introduced to monitor the ongoing quality of the guardianship.275 In the majority of the Member States, national law contains a duty to notify the guardianship authority whenever an unaccompanied child is identified and/or detained. For example, in the Czech Republic, the police will appoint a guardian when initiating an administrative 274 FRA (2015), Guardianship systems for children deprived of parental care: With a particular focus on their role in responding to child trafficking, Luxembourg, Publications Office, pp. 7–8. 275 CPT, Factsheet on Immigration detention, CPT/Inf(2017)3, March 2017. 67