J.B. and Others v. Malta (no. 1766/23)
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What was at stake
ECHR found Malta violated Article 3 (inhuman treatment) and Article 5 (liberty) in detention of six Bangladeshi minors. Landmark ruling on child migrant detention standards.
What happened
Six unaccompanied Bangladeshi minors were detained by Maltese authorities. They were held in unsuitable conditions, leading to their unlawful deprivation of liberty and subjecting them to inhuman and degrading treatment.
What the court decided
Six Bangladeshi nationals who arrived in Malta in November 2022 after being rescued at sea, claiming to be 16-17, were detained first in a reception centre for almost two months and then for at least four further months in the Safi Detention Centre. The Court held that detaining five applicants who were to be treated as 'presumed minors' in conditions unsuited to children amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment (Article 3), that their detention was unlawful and arbitrary (Article 5 § 1), and that they had no effective judicial remedy to challenge the lawfulness of their detention (Article 5 § 4), together with a violation of the right to an effective remedy (Article 13). The Court indicated general measures, including legislation to make the Immigration Appeals Tribunal independent and impartial and an effective remedy to complain about detention conditions.
How the court got there
The European Court of Human Rights found violations of Article 3 and Article 5 of the ECHR because Malta subjected the minors to inhuman and degrading treatment in unsuitable detention conditions and unlawfully deprived them of liberty without adequate legal basis or procedural safeguards. The Court emphasized that detaining unaccompanied migrant children demands heightened justification and child-appropriate conditions, which Malta failed to provide.
Statutes and cases cited
- § European Convention on Human Rights art. 3
- § European Convention on Human Rights art. 5
- § UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Categories
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