Procedural guarantees applicable to unaccompanied migrant children in immigration detention processes

Abstract

The guarantees of due process constitute the set of require- ments that should be respected in all proceedings in order to ensure that every person is in the conditions to defend his or her rights before any State act that can affect them. In the particular situation of unaccompa- nied migrant children, these guarantees of due process acquire a greater relevance to ensure the respect and guarantee of their rights, due to the aggravated vulnerability in which they are situated. In that sense, this article seeks to gather and present this set of guarantees that have been developed, together, by the universal and inter–american human rights systems, analyzed under the best interest of the child ́s principle in order to state how these guarantees constitute the minimum floor of protection that unaccompanied migrant children should have in any procedure to which they are subjected.