The Unaccompanied Child’s Right to Legal Assistance and Representation in Asylum Procedures under EU Law

The independent migration of children today is a global phenomenon present in manyregions worldwide, where unaccompanied minors seeking asylum do not enjoy full protection oftheir rights. Among their procedural safeguards, the right to legal assistance and representation is afundamental right strictly related to the realization of other rights contained in the UN Convention onthe Rights of the Child. Nevertheless, despite the fundamental role that guardians and legal advisorsplay in the wellbeing of unaccompanied children seeking asylum, many issues are currently affectingthe exercise and implementation of this fundamental right in several European Union Member States.Therefore, the purpose of this article is to examine the content and scope of protection of this rightunder EU law, while highlighting the existence of possible ambiguities or gaps in current legalstandards. Which EU law rules currently protect unaccompanied minors’ access to legal assistance?What changes are necessary in order to strengthen that protection for unaccompanied minors seekingasylum? These are some of the questions that this paper addresses in order to critically analyze thelevel of protection that Europe has provided to unaccompanied children’s right to legal assistance