The case mainly concerned the lawfulness of the detention of a woman from Bosnia and Herzegovina pending her deportation from Italy. Her deportation and prior detention were ordered a few weeks after she had given birth to a child (who subsequently died at the hospital), despite the fact that Italian law prohibited the deportation of a woman within six months of giving birth.
Governments in the host countries need to rethink their approach; the present policy is not humane. It is also in conflict with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which states that detention “is to be used only as a measure of last resort, for the shortest appropriate period of time and taking into account the best interests of the child as a primary consideration.”
In Iceland today, Lee Hibbard will insist that children have the right to arrive in adult life with a “clean slate” and will highlight the Council of Europe’s role in bringing human rights to the online community.
The case concerned the ban on all prisoners in Northern Ireland wearing, outside their cells, emblems with a political or sectarian connotation.
Representatives of Council of Europe member states, the European Commission, international organisations, trade unions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and international experts in social and economic rights will attend the seminar.
