A family with three minor children requested international protection in Lithuania. Their request was dismissed by the Migration Department and they appealed to the court.

The Supreme Administrative Court held that there must be an individual assessment of the situation of children when the family as a whole applies for asylum. Minor children who are married are themselves asylum applicants and their individual situation must be assessed and their qualification as beneficiaries of international protection must not be determined solely by reference to the situation of their parents who applied for asylum. The court highlighted that when determining the need for international protection, the authorities must examine not only the content of the measures of the actor of persecution, but also the potential impact of these measures on the applicant, which may be different for a child than for an adult. Thus, authorities must go beyond the classification provided for the parents and examine the individual situation of children, assessing the best interests of the child.

In addition, the court noted that an individual assessment of the situation of a child and of his/her best interest must be made not only when determining whether the child qualifies as a beneficiary of international protection but also for deciding on removal since a return might not be in his or her best interests and might violate the principle of non-refoulement.