The first seven days of detention are the most crucial: during that time, a screening process is done where identity checks, security checks, and trafficking risks are made. It is also the time when detainees need the most to talk to someone, but strangely, most of the time, the phone doesn’t work. That’s what we learned in the workshop organised by Aditus Foundation on 27 February 2025.
Neil Falzon, the director of Aditus Foundation, explained the difference in regards to the law between children, unaccompanied children and persons claiming to be minors. For people who claim to be minors, an age assessment procedure is made.
Detention is always the last resort in every case. In reality, there is a big difference between what the law says and the practice. The living conditions in detention are awful: no intimity, no toothbrush, no psychologist, …
In detention, only lawyers can pay a visit to detainees. As soon as a boat arrives at the shore, lawyers make their utmost to access the prison and obtain information. But it’s always very challenging as the phone doesn’t work or the communication is difficult with the detainees because of the language barriers. Yet it is crucial for lawyers to find solutions quickly before the judgment.
Another moment of the workshop was the presentation of the new EU Pact on migration adopted in 2024. Specifically, the new guarantees that concern child detention.
The aim of the EU pact is to create a common asylum system to manage migration in the EU. Secure external borders, fast and efficient procedures, effective system of solidarity and responsibility, embedding migration in international partnerships are the priorities set in the EU Pact. The workshop was organised by ECRE (European Council on Refugees and Exiles).
You can find more information here: https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/migration-and-asylum/pact-migration-and-asylum_en
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