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Chapter 9 | Applying for Asylum “Preparing a statement for a separated child can take less time if you ignore what is going on behind your instructions. Most will [give] you a small statement that you can fit on one page of A4 with very vague details. It is your decision if you want to do the job properly. You have to dig deeper to give them any chance of success and if you are concerned about protection issues. I like to see a child for an initial session to take basic details and tell him or her what’s going to happen [in the asylum determination process] and what a refugee is. On the next occasion I will begin to take his or her statement very slowly.” 26 From October 2003, children have been provided with a 27 page Children’s SEF 27 designed to be more child friendly than the self completion questionnaire used for adults and to provide a greater level of information than the self completion questionnaire previously used for unaccompanied or separated children. However, the form is still in English. 28 Its completion is therefore inevitably a lengthy process. As a result, a number of solicitors and local authorities have expressed dissatisfaction with the 28 day extended period: “Some young people are not educated, they are traumatized and isolated. To be able to get a statement and do all the legal work in [28 days] is going to be impossible. Young people can give the basics quite quickly but to get some of the stories takes quite a long time. It takes support, sympathy, and being a good ear. One girl who was trafficked, [needed] six to seven appointments of three hours duration with her solicitor on top of time with us. A lot of them are so ashamed. Trafficked cases are particularly hard — it depends who they are most afraid of and what they want.” 29 “Our experience is that disclosure takes a long time. An overwhelming number of children are traumatized. It is very hard for them to provide a lot of information when they first arrive. I am sure that there are some who are still too frightened to repeat what happened to them.” 30 Although the length of the form causes practical timing difficulties, its detail offers unaccompanied or separated children some additional protection as it signposts some of the most important issues to address. The language used is similar to that in the adult form but some of the questions are broken down into more detailed component parts or annotated so that the information sought is clearer. The one major lacuna is that there are no questions referring to child specific forms of persecution such as female circumcision, child trafficking or forced marriages. The relevant part of the form merely states that if the unaccompanied or separated child’s claim is partly or wholly based on a reason other than race, ethnic group, nationality, religion, political opinion (including membership of a particular social group) that section should be completed. This contrasts with the sections in the form relating to other possible Convention reasons which include a series of more detailed questions. As a result of this serious omission, an unaccompanied or separated child is not alerted to the fact that information on these issues could be relevant to the asylum application. The form does contain a section on “Avoiding Military Service” but the questions focus on being called up, deferring military service, starting military training, or being charged for refusing to undergo military service. It does not include any reference to the child specific issue of unlawful recruitment as a child soldier or alert a child to the fact that international law prohibits the use of child soldiers by governments or rebel groups or that a fear of Hosted by www.ijjo.org 105
eturn to a country requiring service as a child sol- a key part of the child’s case. It is a major part of dier could place the child at risk of persecution the subjective evidence on which the child’s appli- within the meaning of the purposes of the Refugee cation is decided by the IND case worker. It is also SEEKING ASYLUM ALONE | UNITED KINGDOM 106 Convention. The section of the SEF form on political opinion does ask a number of relevant questions about political activity by the child and his or her family members. However, the form requires more detail and understanding about the political process than an unaccompanied or separated child is likely to have. 31 It does not explicitly alert the child or the legal representative to the fact that imputed political opinion can suffice as a basis for international protection. The Children’s Statement of Evidence Form is a crucial part of the asylum determination process for an unaccompanied or separated child; in the absence of a substantive asylum interview, it forms likely to be the document an adjudicator or Immigration Judge uses to compare and contrast with any written statement the child might submit or any oral evidence he or she may give at any appeal hearing. The research reveals that in most cases information in the Children’s Statement of Evidence Form is not enough to ensure that an unaccompanied or separated child is granted asylum. To succeed children have to submit a large amount of corroborative evidence and a very well focused skeleton argument. Therefore the quality of legal representation is crucial. Legal representatives, however, are not provided with any mandatory training in representing unaccompanied or separated children. 32 They are also not obliged to undertake training on the specific 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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17 A multi-agency task force establ
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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
Page 81 and 82: The official justification for thes
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
Page 103 and 104: Some social services departments do
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Page 109 and 110: ■ 6. The syllabus for the Accredi
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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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■ 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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