Dr Claire Raissan is an Irish Research Council postdoctoral fellow in University College Cork and holds a PhD from the Irish Centre for Human Rights, University of Galway.
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On 18 January 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) handed down its judgment in the case of T.K. v Greece (Application no. 16112/20). This case concerned an unaccompanied minor who had been incorrectly ‘aged’ as over eighteen years and treated as an adult by the Greek authorities, despite the fact that he had firmly asserted his minority during the registration process. In so doing, the Greek authorities successfully used the (falsified) age of the applicant as a barrier to his child-specific rights under international, regional and domestic law and policy. The discriminatory ‘culture of disbelief’ and use of age as a barrier to rights for unaccompanied children gives rise to a failure by states to implement, inter alia, procedural safeguards for such children who are then treated as adults. Recent case law of the ECtHR shows that such actions by states and their authorities will give rise to violations of Articles 3, 8 and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). This blog examines the obligations on states that arise under Articles 3 and 8 ECHR with respect to unaccompanied children who experience the use of age as a barrier to rights at the hands of national authorities, ultimately advocating for structural change in the treatment of this group.
Continue reading “Unaccompanied Children and the Use of Age as a Barrier to Rights”
Irish Centre for Human Rights 