The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) has recently published a report entitled “European legal and policy framework on immigration detention of children”. The deprivation of liberty of children remains a major fundamental rights challenge in the EU, and this report considers children’s rights to protection and care, and the principle of the best interests of the child. Of particular interest is Table 7 in the report, found on pages 54-55, and included below. This table outlines the ages from and up to which a child can stay in prison with their parent, when the parent is imprisoned under criminal law, for the 28 EU Member States. 

With the data presented in this report, and with the feedback from the CoE questionnaire that was sent to member states in early 2017, COPE is planning a comparative study of the results, to examine how definitions of certain concepts vary based on national contexts, thus leading to discrepancies in reporting.

 Find the full report from the FRA.