ACERWC African Committee of Experts on the Rights & Welfare of the Child be exposed to denial of rights such as arbitrary deprivation of liberty.426 Although there has been a normative shift when it comes to detention of children on the move, the practice is still alive in some parts of the continent. For instance in South Africa, a study conducted in 2016 indicated that although the law in the country does not allow detention of migrant children, there were ‘consistent allegations of the migrant detention of children in more clandestine, remote and hard to access parts.’427 In Libya, the practice of detaining migrant children is still persistent. Below is an anecdote of a Nigerian migrant child held in detention in Libya as captured by UNICEF.428 Jon 15 “In Nigeria there is Boko Haram, there is death. I did not want to die. I was afraid. My journey from Nigeria to Libya was horrible and dangerous. Only God saved me in the desert, no food, no water, nothing. The guy who was sitting next to me on the trip died. And once one dies in the desert, they throw away the body and that’s it. I have been here [in the detention centre] for seven months. Here they treat us like chickens. They beat us, they do not give us good water and good food. They harass us. So many people are dying here, dying from disease, freezing to death.” Jon is an unaccompanied child from Nigeria who is in detention in Libya. In North Africa, there have also been reports of forced repatriation of children from North African countries towards the Sahel. Some of them were also detained for illegally entering the country. In 2012, the CRC Committee concluded that, for instance in the case of Algeria, “asylum seekers and refugee children, including those recognized by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are generally considered and treated as illegal migrants, and face arrest, detention and occasionally expulsion”.429 This was brought under the spotlight when in recent years and more recently in May 2018 by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Algeria has been accused of mass deportations of migrants, including children, to Niger. Algeria denied breaching any agreements and noted that it retains the right to “take any measures to ensure the security of its citizens”.430 Similar concerns were raised by the CRC Committee with respect to neighbouring Morocco. In this respect, the CRC Committee noted: “the deportation of unaccompanied children, which takes place in spite of the provisions of the Migration Act (Law No. 02-03) which provide for the protection of children from expulsion (art. 26) and deportation (art. 29), five children having been deported at the risk of their life in the desert between Morocco and Algeria in 2013”.431 Risk of arbitrary repatriation are further compounded by weak or absent returns policy frameworks in some African countries (see Map 9). 11 member states of the AU do not have any policies to date. For those who have it, reports, as noted above, still indicate that there are cases of arbitrary repatriation involving children. 426 427 428 429 430 431 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants (2009) (Supra note 7) para 22. Sloth-Nielsen (n 390 above) p 4. UNICEF, ‘A Deadly Journey for Children: The Central Mediterranean Migration Route’ February 2017. UN committee on the Right of the Child. 16th Session. Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 44 of the Convention. Concluding Observations: Algeria. CRC/C/DZA/CO/3-4. Pg 16. Last accessed 3 June 2018. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/docs/co/CRC_C_DZA_CO_3-4.pdf Expulsion des migrants: Alger repond a l’ONU. 25 May 2018. https://www.tsa-algerie.com/expulsion-des-migrants-alger-repond-a-lonu/ UN Committee on the rights of the child. 2014. Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 44 of the Convention: Morocco. CRC/C/MAR/CO/3-4 pg17 78