The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found France guilty of treating two related refugees inhumanly at a detention center.
The case concerned the administrative detention of a mother and her 4-month-old daughter in the Mesnil-Amelot No. 2 administrative detention center pending their transfer to Italy, the country responsible for examining their asylum application, ECHR said in a statement.
Considering the very young age of the child, reception conditions at the center and the length of the detention which was 11 days, the court found Thursday that competent French authorities subjected the child and her mother to treatment exceeding the level of severity required for Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights to apply, it said.
The Court also found that France violated paragraphs one and four of Article 5 of the Convention.
Article 3 of the Convention deals with the prohibition of inhumane and degrading treatment. Article 5 § 1 is on the right to liberty and security and the Article 5 § 4 is the right to a speedy review of the lawfulness of detention.
* Writing by Ahmet Gencturk
