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Chapter 4 | Monitoring Entry To Provide Protection a plan in January 2006 requesting responses by 5 April 2006. In the forward to this consultation, Paul Goggins, MP, Home Office Parliamentary Under Secretary of State states: Human trafficking is a truly appalling crime where people are treated as commodities and traded for profit. It is big business, often controlled by organized crime groups who seek the maximum return for their investment at the expense of the health and wellbeing of their victims. Despite this expression of human rights concern for victims, the draft proposals included in the consultation document are heavily biased towards border control and crime reduction. Moreover, the positive steps taken so far to combat child trafficking have been taken by the police and Crown Prosecution Service as opposed to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. The latter is still wedded to the belief that the provision of any form of leave to the victims of trafficking, including unaccompanied or separated children, will act as a “pull factor” to “bogus” asylum seekers and therefore will not cooperate with other agencies by offering any new form of status to victims of trafficking, even though this would also encourage them to act as witnesses and enable their traffickers to be prosecuted. Therefore the U.K. has opted out of the European Union Directive on Short Term Residence Permits Issued to Victims of Action to Facilitate Illegal Immigration or Trafficking in Human Beings Who Co-operate with the Competent Authorities. The U.K. has also failed to sign and ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings, 48 because it provides victims of trafficking with short reflection periods and renewable residence permits. In 2000, the U.K. set up Reflex, a multi-agency task force 49 to combat organized immigration crime. One of its three key objectives is to target human trafficking. It also established a network of Immigration Liaison Officers in 23 key source and transit countries in Europe. The Home Office also developed a Crime Reduction Toolkit on the Trafficking of People to inform police, immigration officers, and others of the issues related to human trafficking and what steps they should take to combat the trade. Many of the partners in Reflex understand that victim protection is essential to the prosecution of the organized international gangs but have not been able to convince the Immigration and Nationality Directorate of this fact. 50 Compliance With International Standards ■ 1. Article 35 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child compels states to take specific national, bilateral, and multilateral measures to prevent “the abduction of, the sale of or traffic in children for any purpose and in any form.” Articles 32 and 34 prohibit the economic and sexual exploitation of children within a state’s territory. ■ 2. Paragraph 23 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child’s General Comment No. 6 (2005) recognizes that unaccompanied or separated children are vulnerable to trafficking for purposes of sexual or other exploitation. At paragraph 24 it states that practical measures should be taken at all levels to protect children from trafficking, which includes priority procedures for child victims of trafficking and the prompt appointment of a guardian. ■ 3. The European Union has adopted a Directive on Short Term Residence Permits Issued to Victims of Action to Facilitate Illegal Immigration or Trafficking in Human Beings Who Co-operate with the Competent Authorities. Hosted by www.ijjo.org 49
■ 4. Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights prohibits the use of any form of slavery and forced labour. ■ 5. Article 10.3 of the Council of Europe’s Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings states that “when the age of the victim is uncertain and there are reasons to believe that the victim is a child, he or she shall be presumed to be a child and shall be accorded special protection measures pending verification of his/her age.” ■ 6. Article 10.4 of the Council of Europe’s Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings states that “as soon as an unaccompanied child is identified as a victim, each Party shall provide for representation of the child by a legal guardian, organisation or authority which shall act in the best interests of that child.” ■ 7. The Separated Children in Europe Programme 51 states that the treatment of trafficked children by Recommendations immigration officers, police, social workers, and other practitioners should be governed by child ■ 1. A specialist team should be established at SEEKING ASYLUM ALONE | UNITED KINGDOM 50 protection principles that should prevail over immigration or crime prevention priorities. ■ 8. It also states 52 that immigration authorities should put in place procedures to identify separated children and to refer such children to the appropriate child welfare authorities. Where an adult accompanies a child, the nature of the relationship between the adult and the child should be established. Since many separated children enter a country without being identified as “separated” at ports of entry, organizations and professionals should share information in order to identify separated children and ensure they are given appropriate protection. each port of entry to identify and combat child trafficking. ■ 2. Immigration officers and staff working within the Immigration and Asylum Directorate should all receive training to assist them in identifying unaccompanied or separated children who are being trafficked and in advising children of their entitlement to protection under the Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights. Immigration personnel should also be trained to recognise the potential impact of any directives or conventions to combat trafficking which the U.K. may subsequently opt into or ratify. 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 and 32: 2.7 Private Fostering Arrangements
Page 33 and 34: Endnotes 9 Statistics published by
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: “G” was a 16-year-old Christian
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
Page 85 and 86: days and a second review after thre
Page 87 and 88: provides access to rehabilitation a
Page 91 and 92: who the child must try to relate to
Page 93 and 94: adult in their life to speak on the
Page 95 and 96: 8.3 Role of a Legal Guardian rights
Page 97 and 98: asylum application and monitor the
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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■ 5. The screening interview shou
Page 107 and 108:
eturn to a country requiring servic
Page 109 and 110:
■ 6. The syllabus for the Accredi
Page 111 and 112:
SEEKING ASYLUM ALONE | UNITED KINGD
Page 113 and 114:
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
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
Page 125 and 126:
Page 127 and 128:
Page 129 and 130:
Page 131 and 132:
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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Page 145 and 146:
Page 147 and 148:
until they turn 18, whichever is th
Page 149 and 150:
Page 151 and 152:
“There are some exceptionally goo
Page 153 and 154:
could have been allowed. In one of
Page 155 and 156:
esisting removal to their countries
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■ 3. The Law Society and the Lega
Page 159 and 160:
determinations we analyzed this did
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42 Interview with Laura Brownlees,
Page 163 and 164:
Page 165 and 166:
should resolve this difficulty. The
Page 167 and 168:
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
Page 175 and 176:
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
Page 209 and 210:
Bibliography Amnesty International.
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Immigration Advisory Service. Submi
Page 213 and 214:
FOR MORE INFORMATION PHOTOGRAPHY CR
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