Lost in Transit

Insufficient Protection for Unaccompanied Migrant Children at Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport

I. Summary and Key Recommendations

Key Recommendations to the French Government

Methodology and Scope

II. Context

Transit Zones: A Legal Fiction

The Importance of Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport

Procedures for Unaccompanied Migrant Children at the Roissy Transit Zone

III. Abuses by Border Police

Humiliating and Degrading Treatment

Unwarranted Pressure Placed on Children

Threats to Deport Children

Unnecessary and Flawed Medical Examinations to Determine Age

Abuses and Risks in Detention

IV. Lack of Legal Representation for Unaccompanied Migrant Children

The Limits on the Role of Ad Hoc Administrators

Absence of Ad Hoc Administrators

Obstruction by Border Police

Insufficient Access to Legal Assistance

The Children’s Judge and Children’s Ombudsperson: Limited Powers to Intervene

V. Failing to Protect the Most Vulnerable Children

The Failure to Protect Trafficking Victims

Unaccompanied Children who Seek Asylum..

VI. Deportations without Safeguards

International Obligations when Returning Unaccompanied Migrant Children

VII. Recommendations

To the Ministry of Immigration, Integration, National Identity, and Solidarity Development

To the Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport Border Police

To the French Office for Refugees (OFPRA)

To the French Red Cross

To the French Red Cross and Famille Assistance

To the Children’s Judge and the Public Prosecutor

To the European Commission

To the Council of the European Union

Acknowledgements