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Chapter 2 | Unaccompanied or Separated Children Arriving in the United Kingdom certain cultures and particularly in West Africa. Children are sent to live with distant relatives or family friends at a young age to obtain educational or social advantages. In return they have to contribute housework. However, the export of this practice to the U.K. has led to a distortion of this tradition in a significant number of individual cases. The expense involved in employing domestic servants, and particularly nannies, in the U.K. has led to the “sponsors” relying heavily on the unaccompanied or separated child to do all of the housework and much of the child care. The difference in culture between the family settled in the U.K. and the new arrival has on occasion lead to conflict and excessive punishment. The greater geographic isolation of the unaccompanied or separated child from the family of origin increases the child’s vulnerability to exploitation. What was once an accepted cultural practice has become exploitative domestic servitude. 32 There is an established system which should have monitored such placements: whenever a child under 16 lives with a person who is not a parent, close relative 33 or a person with parental responsibility 34 for more than 28 days, a private fostering arrangement is deemed to exist. Local authorities are then under a duty 35 to satisfy themselves that the child’s welfare is satisfactorily safeguarded and promoted. However, this duty can only be exercised if the local authority is notified that a child is being privately fostered. If a family is aware that the unaccompanied or separated child they are privately fostering does not have leave to remain in the U.K. they are unlikely to inform anyone in authority of the unaccompanied or separated child’s presence. The British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) and other non-governmental organizations in the U.K. have campaigned without success to persuade the U.K. Government to introduce a mandatory registration scheme as they recognise the weakness of the present voluntary notification requirement. Some local authorities have adopted special procedures to address this problem. For example, Sheffield City Council has instituted a protocol to check whether these children have in fact been trafficked to the U.K. for exploitation. 36 Compliance With International Standards ■ 1. Paragraph 20 of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s General Comment No. 6 (2005) states: “A determination of what is in the best interests of the child requires a clear and comprehensive assessment of the child’s identity, including her or his nationality, upbringing, ethnic, cultural and linguistic background, particular vulnerabilities and protection needs.” Access to the territory is a prerequisite to this initial assessment process. Recommendations ■ 1. A mandatory registration scheme for privately fostered children should be introduced, to ensure local authority oversight of private foster placements. Hosted by www.ijjo.org 31
Endnotes 9 Statistics published by the Research, Development and Statistics Directorate of the Home Office show that in 1 SI 2005/7. Para 6(3)(a). 2002–2004 only between 21.5% and 25.4% of unaccom- 2 Processing Applications from Children. C5, “Special panied children applied for asylum on arrival in the U.K. Types of Cases.” Para 5.2. 10 There was only a discrepancy of 313 between the statis- SEEKING ASYLUM ALONE | UNITED KINGDOM 32 3 U.K. Immigration Service. Best Practice: Unaccompanied Minors. 1 January 2004. 4 Interview with Sally Thompson, a partner at Luqmani Thompson Solicitors in London. 2004. 5 Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children: Collecting Information from Relatives. 6 For example, in 2002, 6,200 of 84,130 asylum seekers were unaccompanied or separated children. In 2003, 2,800 out of 49,405 were unaccompanied or separated children, and in 2004, 2,726 out of 33,390 were unaccompanied or separated children. 7 A group comprising civil servants and representatives from local authorities and non-governmental organizations working with separated children which is convened by the Home Office. 8 It is no longer possible to apply for asylum by post. All applicants now have to attend to be screened. tics published by the Home Office and those collected by the Refugee Council. 11 The Home Office reconciles its figures in the context of information it subsequently receives, and therefore, figures given for past years are varied up or down. It is also possible that some of the referrals recorded by the Refugee Council were later found to be for adults. 12 Statistics published by the Home Office’s Research, Development and Statistics Directorate. 13 Figures presented to the Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children’s Stakeholder Group for UASC nationalities, where females account for more than 50% of applicants, and from which the U.K. has received more than 10 female applications. 14 See for instance U.S. State Department Country Reports on Trafficking and the U.K.’s Country Information and Policy Unit’s country reports. Hosted by www.ijjo.org
Page 1 and 2: Unaccompanied and Separated Childre
Page 3 and 4: ABOUT THE AUTHORS Jacqueline Bhabha
Page 5 and 6: Manchester City Council; Sue Fisher
Page 7 and 8: Contents Chapter 1 | 9 Chapter 5 |
Page 9 and 10: SEEKING ASYLUM ALONE | UNITED KINGD
Page 11 and 12: Arriving in the U.K. 6 The Immigrat
Page 13 and 14: ers often believe that although a p
Page 15 and 16: fear of certain groups in society t
Page 17 and 18: that unaccompanied minor children f
Page 21 and 22: It then added that “although chil
Page 23 and 24: 2004 it rose to 8.8%. This was at a
Page 25 and 26: 2.3 Countries of Origin Unaccompani
Page 27 and 28: Recommendations ■ 1. If the U.K.
Page 29 and 30: There was no comparable age differe
Page 31: 2.7 Private Fostering Arrangements
Page 37 and 38: unfounded, thus depriving this subs
Page 39 and 40: Bill in Parliament which would have
Page 43 and 44: of someone who might be an unaccomp
Page 45 and 46: It is clear that the Rules are a po
Page 47 and 48: subsequently abducted by their form
Page 49 and 50: “G” was a 16-year-old Christian
Page 51 and 52: ■ 4. Article 4 of the European Co
Page 53 and 54: 17 A multi-agency task force establ
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
Page 69 and 70: als from age disputed children deta
Page 71 and 72: and February 2005 when 75% of those
Page 73 and 74: accommodation which is separated fr
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
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days and a second review after thre
Page 87 and 88:
provides access to rehabilitation a
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SEEKING ASYLUM ALONE | UNITED KINGD
Page 91 and 92:
who the child must try to relate to
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adult in their life to speak on the
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8.3 Role of a Legal Guardian rights
Page 97 and 98:
asylum application and monitor the
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do once I got to London. The pictur
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Some social services departments do
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■ 5. The screening interview shou
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eturn to a country requiring servic
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■ 6. The syllabus for the Accredi
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this research believe that it is no
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A recent White Paper 13 states that
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an important and distinct role to p
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for Determining Refugee Status. 30
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draws on a small number of other re
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■ 3. UNHCR also states that the q
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contact the child via social servic
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It is not possible to ascertain the
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leave to remain if it was unlikely
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“Unaccompanied children are not g
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5 IND. Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking
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until they turn 18, whichever is th
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“There are some exceptionally goo
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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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