CYIL vol. 13 (2022)

CYIL 13 ȍ2022Ȏ IRO: UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN AND THEIR INTERESTS decide, under its own national laws, on whom to confer its nationality. 20 It was unclear, however, whether the representative could act as the children’s guardian or even protect their interests against the occupying powers. The certification of the unaccompanied child’s nationality also served as a prerequisite for requesting the relevant military command for permission to leave the occupation zone. As competent authorities with jurisdiction over the aforementioned matters, the military commands refused to grant the permission to leave in certain cases. For example, the military directives followed by the British command prohibited the return of an unaccompanied child, whose origin was known, to a country of origin whose identity, status, or sovereignty have been altered during or after the war. 21 2.4 Priority Assistance Since time immemorial, it has been held true that foundlings, orphans, and waifs were considered the living proof of human misfortune and agony. They, therefore, merited compassion and support from everyone. According to Psalm10:14 “[...] you are the helper of the fatherless .” 22 If no other caregiver was available, in any politically organized society, the community or state looked after its orphans. According to the doctrine of parens patriae , the state had to assume its paternalistic and protective duties. An orphan must not have been excluded from any community. The 1924 Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child recognized that “ mankind owes to the Child the best that it has to give .” 23 In its third paragraph, the 1924 Declaration further obliges the addressees to prioritize children when providing relief in times of distress. 24 Based on its constituent instrument, the IRO assumed the task of providing priority assistance to unaccompanied children with regards to their return. The teams of international social workers operated only in the occupation zones of the IRO’s contracting parties. A secondary function of the temporarily established organization comprised the provision of international protection to unaccompanied children. 25 Priority assistance was primarily associated with repatriation. The definition provided in Annex I did not offer any other explicit solutions to permanently remediate the living conditions of unaccompanied children. Repatriation, however, failed to become the panacea to the issue at hand as, due to objective reasons, some unaccompanied children could not be returned to their country of origin. Underage descendants of Republican families were prevented from returning to Francoist Spain. Other children remained stateless as the IRO staffwere unable to conclusively determine their nationality. Yet others were furnished with a presumptive nationality even in the absence 20 Hague Convention on Certain Questions Relating to the Conflict of Nationality Law (adopted 13 April 1930, in force 1 July 1937) 179 LNTS 413, 89: “It is for each State to determine under its own law who are its nationals.” 21 See position of the Baltic States. Furthermore, the territorial identity of Poland and other states also changed. 22 HEJČL, J. N. Psalterium: Žaltář, čili, Kniha žalmů (Dědictví sv. Jana Nepomuckého 1922) 22; King James Bible (Holman Bible Publishers 1973) Psalms 10:14. 23 Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child (adopted 26 September 1924, League of Nations): “By the present Declaration of the Rights of the Child, commonly known as ‘Declaration of Geneva’, men and women of all nations, recognizing that mankind owes to the Child the best that it has to give…” 24 Ibid 25 UNGA ‘Refugees and Stateless Persons: Report of the Secretary-General’ (26 October 1949) UNDoc A/C.3/527 para 14.

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