Search

Drawing on research undertaken with separated children seeking asylum in the UK, this paper explores the ways in which children's political identities and experiences have been conceptualised in procedures for determining who is – and is not – in need of protection under international refugee law. The paper focuses in particular on the experiences of separated children during the asylum interview. It is suggested that the conduct of the interview not only indicates a basic lack of humanity and care in engaging with the experiences of separated asylum-seeking children, but also a particular conceptualisation of ‘childhood’ that undermines the ability of children to fully articulate their experiences and to secure access to the protection to which they are entitled. The consequence of this approach is not only that separated asylum-seeking children are significantly less likely than adults to be granted refugee status, but that children who express political views and agency may not be considered to be children at all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Unprecedented changes in both the scale and the complexity of international migration have led to international concern and controversy over the assessment of age in children and young people subject to immigration control or seeking asylum who say they are children yet have no documents to prove their stated age. Sources of data The article reviews the existing evidence on the reliability of medical and non-medical techniques for the assessment of chronological age. Areas of agreement There is evidence that radiography (X-rays) of bones and teeth, which is increasingly relied upon by immigration authorities, is imprecise, unethical and potentially unlawful, and should not be used for age assessment. Areas of controversy Medical techniques including X-rays continue to be relied upon in the absence of an alternative approach resulting in legal challenges and uncertainty for children and young people. Areas timely for developing research Further work is needed to establish a process for age assessment based on a ‘holistic’ multi-disciplinary approach which focuses not on chronological age exclusively but rather on the needs of children and young people subject to immigration control. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]