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Chapter 9 | Applying for Asylum “Usually a fee earner but sometimes a very experienced case worker [accompanies the child to the screening interview]. We have had to make a lot of interventions where it is clear that the child did not understand. [The Immigration Service] are trying to improve their style. In function terms they are specializing [in children] but [they are still] lacking in expertise.” 18 them or can be asked for advice on how to answer the questions. Conversely, the fact that the interpreter is from the child’s country can cause additional trauma because of the child’s past persecution by adults from that country. Despite the particular challenges of interpreting for children, the interpreters used by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate do not receive any specific training. The screening interview is supposed to be nonprobing but interviewers can exercise some discretion and adopt a more rigorous approach where issues of credibility arise. 19 It is clear from refusal letters sent to unaccompanied or separated children and information provided by immigration solicitors 20 that the content of screening interviews is heavily relied upon when the Immigration and Nationality Directorate makes decisions on an unaccompanied or separated child’s application for asylum. “Screening interviews do stray into the area of the [substantive] claim and [the Immigration and Nationality Directorate] is refusing claims on the basis of credibility. Before screening interviews [were introduced] for children, we rarely got refusals based on credibility.” 21 This tendency to primarily assess an application for asylum on the basis of the consistency and cogency of the account given by the asylum seeker is not unique to applications from unaccompanied or separated children and appears to be part of a pervasive culture of disbelief which exists in relation to asylum seekers within the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. Some unaccompanied or separated children also misunderstand the role of the interpreter during the screening interview and do not realise that he or she is merely there to facilitate the interview. 22 They sometimes think the interpreter is interviewing Compliance With International Standards ■ 1. Paragraph 30A of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s General Comment No. 6 (2005) states that the assessment must be conducted in a scientific, safe, child- and gendersensitive and fair manner, avoiding any risk of violation of the physical integrity of the child; giving due respect to human dignity. Recommendations ■ 1. No screening interview should take place if an unaccompanied or separated child is not accompanied by his or her guardian or an appropriate adult and his or her own legal representative. ■ 2. An adult should not be deemed to be an appropriate (or “responsible”) adult until it has been ascertained that he or she has the necessary training and experience to fulfil this role. ■ 3. The screening interview should not be used to probe the credibility of an unaccompanied or separated child’s substantive application for asylum. ■ 4. The screening interview should only be used to check an unaccompanied or separated child’s identity or to resolve any child protection concerns arising from his or her situation. Hosted by www.ijjo.org 103
■ 5. The screening interview should not be used to resolve any disputes about an unaccompanied or separated child’s age. ■ 6. The interviewer should always ensure that the unaccompanied or separated child has fully comprehended the precise purpose and the limitations of the screening interview and the type and extent of information he or she is expected to provide. ■ 7. The interviewer should always ensure that an unaccompanied or separated child fully understands any interpreter being used in the screening interview and the role which he or she will play at the interview and that the child is also happy about the gender and nationality or ethnic or tribal origins of the interpreter. SEEKING ASYLUM ALONE | UNITED KINGDOM 104 ■ 8. Interpreters should also be specially trained to interpret for unaccompanied or separated asylum seeking children. 9.3 Completing the Initial Asylum Application Form The U.K. Government has taken a number of steps to make it easier for unaccompanied or separated children to make their asylum applications. Despite this, a major shortcoming of the current procedure is the fact that the children are not given an appropriate briefing about the nature and scope of the protection offered by the Refugee Convention (or the European Convention on Human Rights) before they are asked to complete the Children’s Statement of Evidence Form. The Immigration and Nationality Directorate seems to assume that such a briefing is unnecessary or that it would be provided by the child’s social worker or legal representative. In reality very few children have any idea whether or how they can rely on these Conventions. Most social workers have no such appreciation either 23 and many unaccompanied or separated children do not gain access to legal representatives with the skills to work effectively with them. Very few minors understand the legal process. Decisions are made for them by social workers, accommodation providers, members of the community, and even the Home Office when they stop children from claiming asylum because they have relatives in the United Kingdom. 24 Unaccompanied or separated children are given 28 25 days to complete and return their SEF (Statement of Evidence) forms; adults by contrast are given 14 days, the additional time being an acknowledgement of the extra time it may take legal representatives to take instructions from children. Hosted by www.ijjo.org
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Unaccompanied and Separated Childre
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS Jacqueline Bhabha
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Manchester City Council; Sue Fisher
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Contents Chapter 1 | 9 Chapter 5 |
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SEEKING ASYLUM ALONE | UNITED KINGD
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Arriving in the U.K. 6 The Immigrat
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ers often believe that although a p
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fear of certain groups in society t
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that unaccompanied minor children f
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It then added that “although chil
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2004 it rose to 8.8%. This was at a
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2.3 Countries of Origin Unaccompani
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Recommendations ■ 1. If the U.K.
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There was no comparable age differe
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2.7 Private Fostering Arrangements
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Endnotes 9 Statistics published by
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unfounded, thus depriving this subs
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Bill in Parliament which would have
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of someone who might be an unaccomp
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It is clear that the Rules are a po
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subsequently abducted by their form
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“G” was a 16-year-old Christian
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■ 4. Article 4 of the European Co
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Page 57 and 58: of the asylum determination process
Page 59 and 60: as a group around the claimant laug
Page 61 and 62: with as being hostile. Nor did they
Page 63 and 64: purposes. 38 The Immigration and Na
Page 65 and 66: or local authority social services
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Page 75 and 76: e safe to let the child go and live
Page 79 and 80: case, that adult is advised to info
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Page 83 and 84: Asylum Support Team has a case load
Page 85 and 86: days and a second review after thre
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Page 95 and 96: 8.3 Role of a Legal Guardian rights
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Page 101 and 102: do once I got to London. The pictur
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Page 107 and 108: eturn to a country requiring servic
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Page 113 and 114: this research believe that it is no
Page 115 and 116: A recent White Paper 13 states that
Page 117 and 118: an important and distinct role to p
Page 119 and 120: for Determining Refugee Status. 30
Page 121 and 122: draws on a small number of other re
Page 123 and 124: ■ 3. UNHCR also states that the q
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Page 135 and 136: leave to remain if it was unlikely
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Page 141 and 142: 5 IND. Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking
Page 147 and 148: until they turn 18, whichever is th
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Page 153 and 154: could have been allowed. In one of
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esisting removal to their countries
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■ 3. The Law Society and the Lega
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determinations we analyzed this did
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42 Interview with Laura Brownlees,
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should resolve this difficulty. The
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A number of legal representatives b
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Department at appeals by unaccompan
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Basis Upon Which Appeals Were Allow
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Basis Upon Which Appeals Were Allow
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Recommendations 14 Immigration Rule
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concern the plethora of evidence of
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As a consequence of these restricti
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■ ■ accommodate unaccompanied o
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that the vast majority of referrals
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ecause of long waiting lists and be
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which would have provided for a leg
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screening interview and do not real
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■ 9.9 The interviewer should alwa
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excessive delay in reaching a decis
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children, or anyone who had been re
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appeal. The Asylum Policy Unit has
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and adjudicators rarely prevented t
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22 Information provided by Ailish K
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A P P E N D I X 1 Glossary of Terms
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Bibliography Amnesty International.
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Immigration Advisory Service. Submi
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FOR MORE INFORMATION PHOTOGRAPHY CR
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