The situation of children deprived of liberty in the world

More than 7 million children are deprived of their liberty every year in the world. They are detained in prisons, migrant detention centres and institutions of all kinds, including institutions for children with disabilities. 

More than seven million. This heartbreaking figure is flagrantly in contravention of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which clearly states that detention of children should be used only as a measure of last resort. To deprive a child of liberty is to deprive them of their childhood. It is exposing them to structural violence that will mark their future. 

By voting in favour of this report, the European Parliament has the opportunity today to give visibility to the cruelty of the deprivation of liberty of children. We need this report because we need to make a strong appeal to the international community to commit to eradicate the systematic deprivation of children’s liberty, to strengthen and implement alternatives to the detention of minors in each State and to always place the principle of the best interests of the child first in any decision that affects children’s rights. We must make visible and address the worrying lack of comprehensive data available on the deprivation of liberty of children in the world, vital to understand the extent of this scourge. 

The content of this report concerns all of us, including the Union, which can and must be a leading foreign policy change agent so that no other child’s life is cut short by deprivation of liberty. 

The final result of the vote in plenary of the European Parliament was 486 votes in favour, 23 against and 127 abstentions. Today, by voting in favour of this text, this Parliament makes a promise of the future for all the children of the world: your life and freedom matter and the Union will work so that they always prevail.