The Committee of Ministers ended its supervision of the execution of the ECHR judgment in Rahimi concerning the degrading treatment of unaccompanied minors (“UM”) on account of their poor living or detention conditions. The case was pending under enhanced supervision since 2011.
In response to this judgment, in 2020, Law 4760/2020 was adopted to abolish the practice of “protective custody” of UM, while a Special Secretariat was established to ensure the application of a new comprehensive system for the protection of UM. In April 2021, the Special Secretariat launched the National Emergency Response Mechanism for UM which includes an emergency telephone line, with the aim of tracing, providing immediate support/accommodation to UM in precarious living conditions. Data confirm that in practice UM are detained only as a matter of last resort and only for very short periods before their swift transfer to suitable accommodation.
