Protecting Children’s Rights: Europe should do more

Nils Muižnieks is a human rights activist and political scientist who has served as Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights since April 2012. This publication is in celebration of 25 years of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). It acknowledges the achievements made in the past 25 years but also highlights four key challenges regarding children’s rights in Europe. Among these challenges is the ability for states to detain migrant children solely on their migration status or that of their parents. As a means of addressing these challenges, Muižnieks calls on awareness raising among decision-makers as well as the population. States must then actively acknowledge and work to, for example, end immigration detention of children.