A/HRC/62/35 their safety, well-being and best interests. Reports indicate that, at various borders, children are exposed to complex forms of violence, including physical harm, sexual violence, pushbacks and other forms of forced removal, detention, psychological abuse, racism, neglect, and deprivation of basic needs. 68 Accelerated procedures commonly associated with externalization frameworks may not allow for proper age assessment, for an adequate determination of the best interests of the child or for the effective realization of the child’s right to be heard.69 Removals to third countries or extraterritorial asylum processing may also result in the separation of children from their parents, in violation of article 9 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.70 30. Externalization measures may give rise to violations of the principle of non-refoulement in respect of children. Under this principle, States must not return a child where there are substantial grounds for believing that he or she would face a real risk of irreparable harm. In the case of children, the scope of such harm is broader and may include, for example, the serious consequences of inadequate access to food, healthcare or other essential services.71 In A.M. v. Switzerland, the Committee on the Rights of the Child found that removing a child with his mother to a transit country would violate several provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, including the rights to survival and development, to an adequate standard of living, to education, and to freedom from torture and ill-treatment. 72 Removal to a third State will rarely be in the best interests of the child, particularly where there are concerns as to the ability or willingness of that State to ensure adequate protection and well-being. For instance, in Nauru, children transferred from Australia have reported abuse, including sexual abuse. 73 In Tunisia, children in transit reportedly often lack access to public healthcare.74 31. Immigration detention, which frequently results from externalization measures (see paras. 22 and 23 above), also affects children. Recent reports indicate that in the United States, children have been included in deportations to third countries, often following periods of detention pending removal. The Special Rapporteur is concerned by recent accounts of children being systematically detained in the United States for prolonged periods in substandard conditions and, in many cases, without effective access to legal representation.75 In Libya, children are detained in deplorable conditions, where they are exposed to, or witness, physical abuse.76 Immigration detention is inherently harmful to children’s physical and mental health and development, and is never in their best interests. Accordingly, the possibility under international human rights law of detaining children as a measure of last resort, which may apply in other contexts such as juvenile justice, does not apply in immigration proceedings. Detention of children on the basis of their own or their parents’ migration status is therefore impermissible.77 In M.I. et al. v. Australia, the Human Rights Committee found that Australia had violated article 9 (1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by detaining unaccompanied children in the offshore processing centre in Nauru, in overcrowded and inadequate conditions. 78 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 10 Submission from I. Derluyn. Submissions from Associazione Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII and from AsyLex. See USA 37/2025; and submissions from Human Rights First and from A. Talbot. Z.S. and A.S v. Switzerland (CRC/C/89/D/74/2019), para. 7.3. A.M. v. Switzerland (CRC/C/88/D/95/2019), paras. 10.7 and 11. Submissions from A. Talbot and from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. World Organisation Against Torture, The right to health for children on the move in Tunisia, 2025. See https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/01/un-experts-alarmed-child-rights-violations-usaimmigration-procedures; USA 39/2025; and Human Rights First and RAICES, “A new era of ICE family prisons”, April 2026. Submission from I. Derluyn. Joint general comment No. 4 of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and No. 23 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (2017) on State obligations regarding the human rights of children in the context of international migration in countries of origin, transit, destination and return, paras. 9–12. M.I. et al. v. Australia (CCPR/C/142/D/2749/2016), para. 10.11. GE.26-06322