Unaccompanied children with no family in the EU may not be sent to another Member State under the Dublin system

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled that unaccompanied children who have applied for asylum  in more than one EU Member State, and who do not have relatives legally residing in the EU, shall remain in the country where their most recent asylum application was lodged, and that country  shall take responsibility for the examination of their claim. Therefore, unaccompanied children should not be sent back under the Dublin Regulation to the country where they filed the first asylum application.

The CJEU argues that the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union establishes that in all actions relating to children, whether taken by public authorities or private institutions, the child’s best interests are to be a primary consideration. Decisions taken under the Dublin Regulation need to take this into account. The Court concluded that it would be contrary to the best interest of the child to transfer them to the state of their first application, as this would delay their access to the asylum procedure.