“The principle of best interests of the child, arising from article 3 [of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)], should be applied in a systematic manner during every step of the displacement cycle. It must be present in any planning and policy-making (or decision and action), by any office that affects a child of concern to UNHCR and must permeate all protection and care issues involving UNHCR and implementing partners. The term ‘best interests’ broadly describes the well-being of a child. As each case is unique a general definition of what is in the best interests of the child cannot be given. Therefore, the ‘best interests’ of the child need to be examined on an individual basis, taking into account the specific features of each case. In order to ensure the optimal implementation of the best interests principle in actions affecting individual children two procedures have been introduced to be applied, depending on the circumstances: 1) the best interests assessment and 2) the best interests determination (BID).”
