Hosted by www.ijjo.org

C H A P T E R 9
Applying for Asylum
9.1 Making an Application for Asylum
In order to apply for asylum in the United Kingdom an unaccompanied or
separated child has to have physically arrived in the country. Although the U.K.
does have a very small 1 Gateway Protection Programme through which it accepts
refugees who are already known to UNHCR abroad, this programme is not open
to unaccompanied or separated children.
Unaccompanied or separated children therefore
have to apply at a port of entry, at one of the two Asylum
Screening Units or at a local Immigration Service
enforcement office. 2 When they do so there is an
implicit assumption on the part of the Immigration
Service or the Immigration and Nationality Directorate
that unaccompanied or separated children
both understand the concept of “seeking asylum” and
know how to make an application for the protection
provided by the Refugee Convention. Interviews conducted
for our research and by others revealed that
both assumptions were incorrect in many cases.
“They just told me I needed to tell my story and
I would be safe. I didn’t know what asylum itself
was or that what I was doing was called asylum.” 3
“The words for applying for asylum in my language
are translated as “giving up your hand” (which
means surrendering). That was what I was told to
Hosted by www.ijjo.org
99