Czech Republic must pay compensation to Afghan girls for detention
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has ruled that the Czech Republic violated the rights of two Afghan girls. They were previously held in a detention center for foreigners for 34 days. According to the committee's decision, their detention was unjustified and motivated solely by their status as migrants.
The entire case concerned sisters who arrived in the Czech Republic unaccompanied by an adult. Authorities subsequently placed them in a detention facility for foreigners, where they had to remain for more than a month. Human rights organizations have long criticized the practice of locking up minor migrants in such facilities alongside adults.
In its opinion, the UN Committee stated that the state must pay the girls financial compensation for the harm caused. In addition to financial compensation, the Czech side received a recommendation to reconsider its procedures for handling minor refugees. The goal is to ensure that similar situations do not recur in the future.
The Czech government and the relevant authorities must now respond to the UN's decision. This case has sparked a wider debate in the Czech Republic regarding how the state approaches children who seek asylum and find themselves on the territory of the republic without a family background.