France has committed "serious and systematic" violations of the rights of unaccompanied migrant children, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has found.
In a report released on Thursday, the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which ensures that countries comply with international treaties on the rights of minors, said that child migrants in France often find themselves deprived of basic care and living in "degrading" conditions, as a result of not being able to access the child protection system.
Migrants must prove that they are minors in order to access the appropriate care and protection.
Catherine Daoud, a lawyer specialising in children's rights, notes that these children often arrive after long, perilous journeys on foot or by boat. "They do not have passports, or very rarely have them when they arrive."
"These minors, who are living on the streets without access to healthcare or education, are too often left to fend for themselves because they are unable to prove that they are under the age of majority," the report found.
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Bone tests and interviews
While it praised France for recognising unaccompanied minors as children in need of care and protection first and foremost, the report added that "a large number" of those who declare themselves to be children are treated as adults, following age assessment procedures that are considered "flawed".
Without identity papers, young people have only two other options for proving their age: a bone test, which has been criticised as unreliable, or an interview with the department responsible for child protection.
This assessment is considered difficult, said Daoud.
"If they have not been very clear about the timeline, the chronology, their family composition, their years of schooling, the dates of birth of their siblings... there are a number of elements like this that lead [authorities] to say: 'You have not provided proof that you are a minor'."
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Children whose age is disputed or whose appeals are under review are "forced to survive on the streets, in parks or in makeshift camps, without sufficient food or drinking water, and without healthcare or education," says the CRC.
"These children are at high risk of being exposed to trafficking, abuse, maltreatment and police violence," added the committee.
It found that "between 50 and 80 percent" of them are recognised as minors "after their age has been reassessed".
In its report, the CRC states that it has also documented other "serious situations" affecting unaccompanied migrant children who transit through France to reach the United Kingdom and "live in extremely precarious conditions, particularly in camps."
This article was adapted from the original version in French.
