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Chapter 6 | Detention of Unaccompanied or Separated Children
maintained a record of all detainees who claimed
to be 18. See Ibid, Endnote 4, C29 “Unaccompanied
Children,” para 29.2.
13 There was also at least one instance of an age-disputed
unaccompanied or separated child being detained in
the high security unit there (interview with Heather
Violett, Immigration Advisory Service team leader at
Oakington Reception Centre, 2004).
14 Ibid, Endnote 13.
15 Figures provided by the Refugee Council’s Children’s
Panel. Some of these age-disputed unaccompanied or
separated children may have been moved between
centres, so the data may not be completely accurate.
16 As the Refugee Council’s Children’s Panel was mainly
working in London and the southeast of England, and
the Refugee Legal Centre and the Immigration Advisory
Service were not based permanently at Campsfield,
Dungavel, or Lindholme, it was likely that the referrals
from these centres were underestimated.
17 This is of particular concern as this removal centre
is only supposed to be for men who are more than
21 years old.
18 Steering Group Meeting of the Refugee & Asylum
Seeking Children’s Project, 10 May 2005.
19 The two organizations funded by the government to
provide advice and representation to asylum seekers
detained at Oakington Reception Centre.
20 That is, they were not entitled to appeal against any
decision by the Secretary of State for the Home Department
to refuse to grant them asylum until they had
left the U.K. as a result of his certifying their claims as
being clearly unfounded under s94 of the Nationality,
Immigration and Asylum Act 2002.
21 Home Office. Disputed Age Cases Asylum Process Manual.
C5: “Special Types of Cases,” 30 August 2005. Para 13.4.1.
22 Procedures were in place for those accepted as clients
by the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of
Torture to be released from Oakington Immigration
Reception Centre and taken out of the Fast Track
asylum determination procedures.
23 See letter from the assistant director of Oakington
Immigration Reception Centre to Refugee Legal
Centre, Annexes 1 to 4, 16 February 2006.
24 Information provided by Jane Dykins, head of
Children’s Section at the Refugee Council. 2005.
25 If a child had previously been the responsibility of
another local authority, it will resume responsibility
for that child. If no local authority has been involved,
the local authority undertaking the age assessment
will assume responsibility.
26 Information provided by Adrian Matthews, project
manager of the Refugee and Asylum Seeking Children’s
Project at the Children’s Legal Centre. 2004.
27 See reports of inspections of Immigration Removal
Centres carried out by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of
Prisons between 2002 and 2005, which identified this
as a particular issue of concern.
28 Save the Children. No Place for a Child: Children in
UK Immigration Detention: Impacts, alternatives and
safeguards. 2005. See comments from B at p63.
29 Interview with Alison Harvey, then Principal Policy
and Practice Manager at the Children’s Society. 2004.
30 UNHCR. Guidelines on Policies and Procedures in Dealing
with Unaccompanied Children Seeking Asylum. February
1997. Para 7.6.
31 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Concluding
Observations on the Second United Kingdom Report.
Para 49.
32 Separated Children in Europe Programme. Statement
of Good Practice, Third Edition. 2004. C1.
33 From conversations with legal practitioners representing
clients in the criminal courts.
34 The Act came into force on 22 September 2004.
35 Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants,
etc) Act 2004, s2(7)(b)(iii).
36 [2005] EWHC 478 (Admin).
37 Gil-Robles, Alvaro. Commissioner for Human Rights.
Report on his visit to the United Kingdom 4th–12th
November 2004. 8 June 2005. Paras 74,75.
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