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Chapter 11 | Outcomes of Asylum Applications “I worry about people’s failure to distinguish nied or separated children who have not claimed asylum but have protection needs, arising from their own between exceptional leave to remain [as granted to adults] and discretionary leave granted on the family situation. These are usually unaccompanied or sole basis of age.” 20 separated children who come to the attention of a local authority’s social services department in the The general misconception amongst less experienced legal representatives and social services welfare of children in their geographic area 21 or to course of their duties to safeguard and promote the departments—that unaccompanied or separated protect children from significant harm caused to children are granted exceptional leave in recognition of a need for international protection on dren may have become orphans whilst living in the them by their parents or carers. 22 The former chil- human rights grounds and that therefore this U.K. with a parent or parents without indefinite leave will be extended on the same grounds—has leave to remain in the U.K. 23 Alternatively, the child given many unaccompanied or separated children may have entered as a visitor for a limited period of an unjustified expectation that they will be able to months some years before to join relatives, who remain in the U.K. once they turn 18. were themselves settled in the U.K. In the absence of a legal basis for the child to remain indefinitely This misconception is fuelled by the use of the in the U.K., 24 the relatives typically fail to inform same term to cover two very different situations. the Immigration and Nationality Directorate about The absence of informative statistics which record the child’s continuing presence, 25 and as a result the the reasons for grants of exceptional or discretionary leave compounds the problem. It would the relationship with the child eventually breaks child becomes an overstayer. 26 When as often happens be helpful if, instead of the current generic figures, down, it will fall to social services to provide him statistics relating to grants of exceptional or discretionary leave to unaccompanied or separated they will discover that the child has no continuing or her with accommodation and at some later date children were categorized as “Exceptional leave leave to remain in the U.K. It is now the policy of to remain on the basis of age” and those given to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate 27 that adults as “Exceptional leave to remain to avoid a no unaccompanied or separated child should cross human rights breach.” international borders without his or her legal status Exceptional or discretionary leave was and is also being ascertained. In the past these unaccompanied granted to a small but distinct group of unaccompa- or separated children were usually given indefinite Percentage Of Asylum Seekers Granted Exceptional Or Discretionary Leave To Remain ■ 2002 Exceptional leave to remain 69% Unaccompanied or Separated Children 21% Adults ■ 2003 Exceptional leave to remain (prior to 1 April 2003) 32% Unaccompanied or Separated Children 8% Adults ■ 2003 Discretionary leave 40% Unaccompanied or Separated Children 6% Adults ■ 2004 Discretionary leave 73% Unaccompanied or Separated Children 8% Adults ■ 2005 Discretionary leave 69% Unaccompanied or Separated Children 10% Adults Hosted by www.ijjo.org 133
leave to remain if it was unlikely they could safely reception and care arrangements are available in be returned to the care of their families. This policy the child’s country of origin and the child will be was modified slightly, when children were given an granted discretionary leave to remain for three initial limited four year period of leave after which years or until their 18th birthday, whichever is the they were permitted to apply for indefinite leave to shorter period of time. 32 remain. 28 More recently children have been granted There are a small number of children who short periods of discretionary leave which mirror express a desire to return to their countries of ori- the leave granted to unaccompanied or separated gin voluntarily after they have been refused asylum. children refused asylum and which depend on their The Immigration and Nationality Directorate relies country of nationality and not their own individual on the International Organisation for Migration circumstances. The expectation is that they will be (IOM) 33 to facilitate such returns and between 2002 returned to their country of origin when they reach and 2004, 46 separated children (aged between 13 and 18. This approach makes it difficult for social services 17) applied to be considered for their Returns Pro- to plan coherently whilst these children are in their gramme. Of these only nine were actually returned. care and it also fails to take account of the psycho- IOM relied on UNHCR to undertake a fact finding logical damage they may have experienced at the exercise in the unaccompanied or separated child’s hands of their own parents. country of origin and as a result of its enquiries it was not thought advisable to assist the other 37 11.4 Voluntary Returns to Country of Origin children to return. 34 In 2004–2005, Refugee Action, a U.K. based non-governmental organization, also worked with 63 children who wished to make a voluntary return The Immigration Act 1971 provides immigration officers with the power 29 to issue removal directions to anyone, including to their countries of origin through its Choices programme. Most of these children were between the ages of 16 and 18 and around 80% were boys. The SEEKING ASYLUM ALONE | UNITED KINGDOM 134 unaccompanied or separated children, to enforce their removal to their country of origin if they are an illegal entrant or have been refused leave to enter the U.K. An unaccompanied or separated child who has overstayed a limited period of leave to remain or who has breached a condition of his or her leave can also be removed. 30 However it has been the policy of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate since the early 1990s that no unaccompanied or separated child who has been refused asylum will be removed from the U.K. unless there are adequate reception and care arrangements in place in the country to which the child is to be removed. 31 In practice no steps are generally taken to investigate whether adequate project liaised with the appropriate social services department and UNHCR in the U.K. and UNHCR in the country of origin. A voluntary departure was only arranged if a parent or guardian had been identified and was able and willing to receive and look after the child. The British Red Cross also run a family tracing service for unaccompanied or separated children who wish to find their family through its International Welfare Service. However, unaccompanied or separated children are not automatically put in touch with this service. It is left to their social workers or legal representatives to alert them to its existence. Anecdotally it would appear that unaccompanied or separated children are rarely able to 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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of the asylum determination process
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as a group around the claimant laug
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with as being hostile. Nor did they
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purposes. 38 The Immigration and Na
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or local authority social services
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als from age disputed children deta
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and February 2005 when 75% of those
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accommodation which is separated fr
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e safe to let the child go and live
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case, that adult is advised to info
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The official justification for thes
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Page 91 and 92: who the child must try to relate to
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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 115 and 116: A recent White Paper 13 states that
Page 117 and 118: an important and distinct role to p
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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 141 and 142: 5 IND. Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking
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Page 153 and 154: could have been allowed. In one of
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Page 157 and 158: ■ 3. The Law Society and the Lega
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Page 161 and 162: 42 Interview with Laura Brownlees,
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Page 175 and 176: Recommendations 14 Immigration Rule
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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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