Law/8. Constitutional law

Candidate of Law. N. Yuskiv

Lviv National Politechnical University, Ukraine

Problems of legal protection of minor refugees

Minors require special protection from the state. The problem of protection becomes even more urgent under the influence of forced migration. Minors and other children suffer from various political and social factors including famine, war, political and social processes that force both families and juveniles leave the country of their citizenship. Under the standards of international law a person can get legal status of a refugee. A refugee is a person who, because of well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable to enjoy the protection of that country or unwilling to use such protection due to such fear; or, lacking his citizenship and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or unwilling to return to his place of residence.

As Tyndyk points out, persons up to 18 years "constitute the overwhelming majority of refugees in the world - an average of 50%, and are members of some other categories of refugees - about 70%. According to independent experts, the number of children-refugees is increasing daily by 5 thousand affecting the growth of refugees in general "[1, c.157].

The legal status of refugees undergo changes because they do not receive adequate protection of their rights and freedoms from the state with which they are in constant legal contacts. Therefore, another state should take over the responsibilities of providing and guaranteeing minimum human rights standards. For minors it is primarily manifested through social sphere. Minors require security, physical and economic rights, including the right to life, health care, decent standard of living, housing and meals.

These are not all standards that the receiving state may offer. As Albertini suggests, it should not provide primarily economic and other problems, but the integration of foreign children into the society, and the state itself should be based on the idea of constitutional patriotism, but not on the idea of ethnic and cultural nation [2, p. 66]. It means that it is necessary to ensure individual rights such as the right to a proper name, respect for honor and dignity, etc. In other words, minors should not be exposed to any level of discrimination. International enactments pay special attention to the need of protection from slavery and sexual violence.

The main social responsibility of a minor is to acquire knowledge. Therefore, the right to education becomes leading for juveniles - refugees. The problem is that minors vary not only in educational environment of the host country, but also have significant problems in terms of perception. That is, without the knowledge of the language of the host country minors can’t fully integrate into the educational environment. The legal status of minors needs special treatment in terms of educational and research programs of a foreign state and the international community.

Minors enjoy special legal status under international humanitarian law. In particular, the International Conventions sets the minimum age for combatants of 15 years, i.e. before reaching adulthood. Moreover, even without being a member of the armed conflict, minors as civilians, are particularly vulnerable if they find themselves in war. In the current conflicts children are treated as not “random victims, but deliberately chosen targets”. These words are noted in the report of the UN General Secretary, 1996, entitled "Impact of armed conflict on children" since criminals believe that killing a child today means to neutralize the enemy tomorrow [3, c.14].

Thus, the forcible international problems in securing legal status of minors-refugees are to solve the following objectives: providing vital needs of juveniles (food, medical care), sexual abuse prevention of minors and their exploitation, preventing the mobilization of minors, prohibition to join any armed units, organization of education and solving problems of persons who are not still grown-ups and the problems of entry into a family.

The Refugee Convention and the Convention on the Rights of the Child are the main regulations that provide the legal status of minors - refugees. We state that the normative acts do not provide legal assistance for this age category. The most significant drawback is that the both Conventions do not contain a clear list of legal measures aimed at the immediate protection of minors-refugees. "A variety of problems arising in this area suggest the need to pass additional international documents that can legally protect children from abduction and illegal adoption. To determine the nature of this document and to establish an appropriate international body that will carry it out may be possible by taking into account two interrelated components: firstly, such a body must be able to arrange and facilitate communication and mutual assistance between the country of origin of a refugee and asylum countries to achieve optimal solution of the child’s interests; secondly, if such contacts are not established, this body should become an international institution that will bear all responsibilities for the child. In the current situation, the responsibility for the fate of children-refugees has to be taken by the institution with relevant experience to protect the welfare and the rights of children-refugees [1, c.219].

So the international regulation of the institution of refugees, including minors, needs to be improved in the aspect of a broader legal regulation of their rights and freedoms.

Literature:
1. Tyndyk N. P. Refugees: an integral part of the modern world migration process: Monograph. / NP Tyndyk - Lviv: LvDUVS, 2007. - 608 p. P. 157
2. Albertini, L. M. Rights of citizenship in European states (comparative analysis): Thesis. ... Candidate of Law: 12.00. 02 / L. M. Albertini. - K., 1998. - 214 p.
3. M. Ameratunga. Invisible generation / M. Ameratunha // Bezhentsы. - 1988. -№ III. - P. 14.