ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the compliance of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) with the right of the child to liberty. It follows the structure of previous chapters, albeit in simplified form, since just one right is involved. The chapter sets out the right of the child to liberty in its various dimensions; scrutinises whether the relevant Phase One instruments comply with the right of the child to liberty; the assesses the prospects for better compliance in Phase Two. The relevant CEAS instruments are the Reception Conditions Directive (RCD) and the APD. The directives fail to establish any general, much less child-specific, criteria relating to the lawfulness or non-arbitrariness of detention. They contain weak provisions relating to the conditions of detention, which fail to acknowledge that where children are detained they must be detained in conditions appropriate to their age and, indeed, rights.
