From a sheltered to expulsion item

The transformation of unaccompanied minors’ legal culture

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1322

Keywords:

unaccompanied minors, migrants, legal culture, judicial decision

Abstract

The paper analyses the topic of unaccompanied foreign minor migrants’ (UFMs) access paths in Italy and France. The aim is to describe how Italy and France intercept the UFMs to European coasts, and how they are identified and guided to specific reception facilities by examining the data and available references. The focus is on the legal dimension of the “non-reception system”. These are cases in which states have been convicted of violating children’s rights. How the Western world has tried to institutionalise the concept of children’s rights is closely related to the concept and operating modes of legal principles and “cultures”. In a way, the study of legal culture represents a measure of evolution of laws. In this paper, we highlight the usefulness of analysing the principle of the best interest of child (BIC), introduced in the ideal-typical configuration as a free formulation, which can only be understood based on the interpretation of Courts’ decisions taken on behalf of UFMs.

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Author Biographies

Deborah De Felice, University of Catania

University of Catania, Italy. Email address: defelice@unict.it

Giuseppe Giura, IESE Business School

 IESE Business School, Barcelona, Spain. Email address: GGiura@iese.edu 

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Published

04-10-2022 — Updated on 01-12-2022

How to Cite

De Felice, D. and Giura, G. (2022) “From a sheltered to expulsion item: The transformation of unaccompanied minors’ legal culture”, Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 12(6), pp. 1358–1390. doi: 10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1322.

Issue

Section

Facts within legal culture