Safeguarding Children's Rights in Immigration Law is a collection of scientific papers regarding the growing concern for children in immigration procedures. The authors’ contributions focus on a European level of analysis, however, children on the move is a global issue. Therefore, this topic requires both continuous attention and an understanding of the overall legal framework.

‘Each child must, first and foremost, be recognized as a human being with human rights and fundamental freedoms’ (Preface, v) is the unambiguous message of the international community, 30 years after the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989. Ever since then, a multilevel, complex framework has influenced domestic legislation, jurisprudence and policy. More precisely, constant efforts to develop and elaborate on the UNCRC's core notions have been made. The principle of the child‘s best interest, the children's right to be heard and the recognition of each child as a rights-holder are just some of the irrevocable principles evaluated critically in this book – and incidentally, the principle of the child's best interest runs like a unifying thread throughout the entire book. One has to bear these concepts in mind because many states actually limit the legal protection to which children are entitled under international law due to migration control issues. Although migration control is considered as a legitimate interest of the Member States, the child's best interest is the ‘paramount consideration‘(p. 6). Therefore, it must not be hampered for security and safety reasons. However, following the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the principle is no ‘free pass’. In fact, there needs to be a serious balancing of conflicting interest.

In this reviewer's view, it is not reasonable that the balancing of interest is negatively affected by the actions or behaviour of the parents. Children are rightsholders on their own, meaning that it is prohibited to treat minors unequally based on the conduct of their parents, as is rightfully stressed in the book (p. 12).