INTRODUCTION

Protecting the human rights of children under the scope of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and embodying them in the domestic policy of the ratifying Member States, has always been a goal to be achieved. In the meantime, due to the massive migration flows arriving in the area of the Mediterranean, literature and research have excessively focused upon Greece for being a stepping-stone to safety for the majority of those in quest of refuge in Europe. Among those asylum-seeking individuals arriving in Greece, unaccompanied minors (UAM) are particularly in need of certain UNCRC rights to be granted to them at arrival, given their youth and their unique socio- legal status. Currently, the situation UAM experience in Greece is particularly complex, as all migrant minors, regardless of whether or not they apply for international protection, are, by law, to be immediately apprehended for entering the country in an irregular manner and consequently to be placed under what is known as protective custody, in specially designed short-term hosting facilities provided by the state, where they are also to be provided with sufficient care and assistance until referred to appropriate hosting units.

However, due to the state's inability to adequately and promptly cover the accommodation needs of all UAM arriving in the country, this procedure is often replaced by administrative detention, until these minors are further referred to suitable long-term accommodation structures. Hence, in the meantime, UAM are most commonly placed in detention facilities, usually under police administration, where they are often subjected to highly inappropriate and clearly problematic conditions, thus raising crucial questions in the area of protecting children's rights under the scope of the UNCRC provisions. In addition to the above, this form of detention often exacerbates existing medical, psychological and social needs arising from being an asylum seeker in the first place, eventually corroborating the country's failure to provide ample and suitable refuge to UAM at arrival, leading to a custody regime euphemistically considered to be protective, while in reality UAM are simply placed under procedures of detention. The question therefore still lies on whether or not protective custody for UAM successfully manages to protect children's rights as enshrined in the UNCRC.