and the Construction of Vulnerability - Child Trafficking

children. One of the problems with existing data on unaccompanied asylum seeking
children in Europe is that the various contact organisations that record information
on asylum seekers frequently include information on older children along
with that on adults, making it very difficult to assess their situation. 173 More generally,
there is concern that the level and type of support offered to older child migrants
by social and welfare agencies is determined simply by the age of the child rather
than based on an assessment of their individual needs. 174 In some cases, this means
that older children (aged 16 and 17 years) who need support are left to fend for themselves,
175 while in others, children who have already reached a high level of maturity
and competence are refused agency and independence. 176
The problems associated with gaining residency rights are similar for both children
and adults. These are mainly brought on by the somewhat narrow definition
of “refugee” contained in the 1951 UN Convention. The Convention and its Protocols
have been criticised for not representing the true nature of refugee movements
in the contemporary world. As such, children will only be granted refugee status
(usually the most secure form of immigration status in Europe) if they fit into the
narrow conception of a political refugee.
There have been reports of children being returned at the border in Germany and
Austria, with no opportunity to even claim asylum, if they do not have some form
of travel document. 177 There is a striking discrepancy between the total number of
asylum claims made by unaccompanied children arriving in Poland, and the actual
number of children granted refugee status. 178 Of 213 applications made by children
in 2002, for example, only 19 were accepted. The fact that children know their
chances of being granted refugee status are slim is cited as one of the reasons why
the majority of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children placed in various kinds of
care units in Poland in 1999 and 2000 escaped from them. Indeed, approximately
80 per cent of children disappear from such institutions “without a trace and without
anyone assessing the child’s situation or asking questions”. 179
A second point to note is that the rights of child asylum seekers and refugees are
protected under international laws. Many governments have set in place systems that
are designed to allow children to access these rights, as well as more general rights
set out in the CRC. Despite this, the systems are often undermined by immigration
policies that only grant children temporary or insecure immigration status, as well
as by dispersal policies. 180
Under the Dublin II ruling, children are liable to dispersal both throughout Europe
and within countries under national legislation. Save the Children has drawn attention
to differences between European Union member states in terms of how they
173. Refugee Council and British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering, 2001
174. Smith, 2005; Dennis, 2002
175. Save the Children UK, 2006
176. Rutter, 2006
177. ECRE, 1996
178. Jahnsen, 2005
179. Ibid
180. Smith, 2005
48
Child Migration and the Construction of Vulnerability