Samantha Arnold, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, EMN Ireland at Economic and Social Research Institute, Adjunct Assistant Professor at Trinity College Dublin
The full version of this article will appear in Child and Family Law Quarterly, Vol 29, No 4. Find out more or request a free 1-week trial of Child and Family Law Quarterly. Please quote: 100482.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has often been neglected in international protection decision making. Developments in case law, increased research, relevant UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and Committee on the Rights of the Child guidance has resulted in a de facto children’s rights approach to international protection decision making. Nevertheless, decision makers are reluctant to engage with the rights contained within the CRC in the assessment of child claims. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of refugee and subsidiary protection appeals decisions in Ireland. It specifically looks at the assessment of core elements of child claims such as the best interests principle, benefit of the doubt, child specific country of origin information and credibility. The Irish International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) decisions are analysed with reference to the impact of the CRC, UN guidance and the IPAT’s own guidelines in order to offer guidance to decision makers in the assessment of such claims. This article seeks to contribute to the on-going dialogue on the right approach to child claims.
