THE Children’s Comm- issioner for Scotland has backed a statement by his counterparts across Europe condemning the Trump admin- istration’s policy of separating youngsters from their refugee parents as causing “irreparable harm”.

Bruce Adamson normally comments only on internal Scottish issues but he has joined other commissioners and ombudsmen from the rest of the UK and across Europe to speak out in the light of what has been happening on the US-Mexican border.

Migrants seeking asylum there from oppression in Central America have seen children forcibly separated from their parents.

Thousands of children have been held in makeshift tented camps, many caged, while others have been taken hundreds of miles across the US to be placed in care.

Adamson said: “I am joining the other members of the European Network of Ombudsman for Children to call on all political leaders in Europe to stand up for a global human rights and children’s rights-based migration policy that ensures family reunification and psychological support.”

All four UK Children’s Commissioners have signed up to the statement along with 38 counterparts in 34 countries within the Council of Europe. The statement from the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children acknowledges “the positive action taken by President Trump to revoke the decision to separate children from their parents.”

But it adds: “Nevertheless we express our deep concern regarding the situation of the Children being held in detention due to the ‘Zero Tolerance’ policy in the USA. Article 9 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child clearly states that ‘states parties shall ensure that a child shall not be separated from his or her parents against their will’.

“The trauma experienced by these children renders them more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse and the repercussions on the children’s mental health are beyond measure. The traumatic separation creates toxic stress in children and adolescents that can profoundly impact their development and increase the risk of stress-related illnesses well into adulthood.

“ENOC calls on all political leaders in Europe to stand up for a global human rights and children’s rights based migration policy that ensures family reunification and provides psychological support to these children. Children on the move are first and foremost children and they should not be subject to irreparable harm caused by detention.”

Adamson, who is one year into a six-year term as commissioner is currently backing a Green MSP’s Bill to outlaw physical beating of children and he is seeking to raise the age of criminal consent in Scotland which, at eight, is one of the lowest in the world. A full interview with the commissioner appears in next month’s iScot magazine.

Meanwhile, Trump was labelled a “serial child abuser” by the SNP’s Peter Grant as MPs urged Boris Johnson to condemn the US president’s migrant separation policy which has seen children held “in cages”.

The Foreign Secretary was also urged to cancel Trump’s planned UK visit next month after international uproar over his “zero-tolerance” policy to illegal immigrants.

The policy, introduced in May, has seen more than 2300 children placed in detention centres – as they cannot legally be jailed alongside their parents.