GENEVA: The UN on Friday acknowledged Washington´s decision to stop separating migrant families at the US-Mexico border but insisted that detaining children with their parents was not the solution.
"Children should never be detained for reasons related to their or their parents´ migration status," UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva. "It is never in the best interest of the child for them to be detained," she said.
Her comments came two days after US President Donald Trump, in a stunning about-face, ordered an end to his administration´s widely criticised policy of separating families at the border.
Images and recordings of wailing children detained in cage-like enclosures has ignited global outrage, forcing the abrupt change of tactics. Trump´s executive order would keep families together but in custody indefinitely while the parents are prosecuted for entering the country illegally.
Shamdasani slammed this solution, insisting that Washington "needs to explore non-custodial alternatives to detention, bearing in mind first and foremost the human rights of these migrants, in particular where families and children are involved." "Irregular migration should not be a criminal offence. These people should not be treated as criminals," she said.
