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Living your life across boundaries
Young separated refugees
Young
separated refugees come to the UK in the hope that they will escape from
danger, fear and even death, to the protection and support of a country
not at war. They cross national boundaries, sometimes enduring great hardship
and loneliness, and are remarkable in their courage. They arrive in the
UK often with no knowledge of the country and no relations here. Their
"boundary" experience continues as they face social, educational, organisational,
health, housing and other exclusion and isolation.
Recognition as an "unaccompanied
asylum seeking child" gives a child an official status leading to a particular
care regime. All unaccompanied children meet the definition of children
"in need" under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989, and should be registered
with the social services department of the local authority where they
first present themselves. The child then becomes the responsibility of
that local authority.
The Young Separated Refugees Project
The project is a national study with the
objective of giving a voice to young people who have come to the UK, without
parents or carers, to seek asylum.
There has been a significant
increase in the numbers of young separated refugees arriving in the UK
in recent years. In December 1999 the great majority (over 3,000) were
living in the London boroughs and the South East. However, even those
local authorities that had gained a great deal of experience of supporting
large numbers of asylum seekers in the past few years had no easily accessible
central record of how many unaccompanied asylum seeking children they
were supporting. As well as having no official figures, it would also
be extremely difficult and sensitive (and not necessarily desirable) to
probe the nature of family relationships among young refugees who, while
separated from their parents, may be living with other relatives or members
of the same national community.
Young separated refugees
share many of the experiences of their adult counterparts, yet they are
marked off from the general refugee population in two ways. Firstly, they
are among the minority who are children or young people (that is, under
18). Secondly they are a minority among young refugees in that they have
been separated from their parents before their arrival in the UK. Young
separated refugees may be unaccompanied because their parents are dead,
but the more common cause was because they have been smuggled out of a
dangerous situation by their parents.
Key contradiction facing young refugees
The key contradiction faced by refugee
children in general - and young separated refugees in particular - is
between their immigration status and their status as "children". The status
of asylum seeker brings lesser rights and often antipathy or hostility.
The status of "child" brings enhanced rights to social provision in certain
areas and a perception of someone in need of special care and "protection".
For some people, young separated refugees are children first, requiring
to have their needs assessed and met to the same standards as other children.
For others they are refugees or asylum seekers first, and thus deserving
of inferior rights.
In 1991 the UK government
signed and ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989.
Article 22 grants special protection to children who are refugees or who
are seeking refugee status. However the UK government has reserved the
right not to apply the Convention to asylum seeking and other non-citizen
children, although it asserted that the reservation did not override its
obligations to award special protection to refugee children:
"The
reservation does not inhibit the discharge of our obligations under Article
22. The UK is, of course, party to the 1951 Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees, and honours its obligations under this Convention
in full."
All children in the UK
should be explicitly guaranteed the same rights. The reservation clearly
discriminates against asylum seeking and refugee children. Refugee children
should enjoy the same protection, and the same promotion of their welfare,
as other children. Indeed, their traumatic experiences in their home country
and their flight to the UK may be compounded by separation, loss and social
dislocation in the UK that makes them especially vulnerable.
There are other examples
of legislation concerning children conflicting with legislation to ensure
immigration control. When these conflicts have been tested legally, the
need for immigration control has been accepted as paramount over the rights
and welfare of children.
Asylum decisions
The Home Office has said that separated
children are given priority in the consideration of applications, and
that it will refuse an unaccompanied minor only if it can guarantee to
return them to their home country safely. Clearly this is difficult to
achieve and so unaccompanied minors are almost never refused. However,
there are plans to increase efforts to enable such returns to be carried
out. A letter from the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) stated:
"It is IND’s policy
to seek to enforce the removal of unaccompanied asylum seeking children
who have been refused asylum and who have no other basis of stay in the
UK when they reach the age of 18."
Given the very small proportion
of children granted full refugee status, the majority of separated children
could be sent back to their country of origin in the future.
Research findings
The main findings of the Young Separated Refugees
Project research were:
* Young separated refugees want their asylum claims to
be settled as quickly as possible.
* There is a need for well resourced accommodation, close
to relevant services, which allows for independ-ence.
* Refugee children have a strong desire to access education,
especially English language learning. Education provision is often good
but needs to be built on.
* Vouchers are felt to provide far too little income
and are demeaning.
* There are mixed experiences of racism. Some experienced
it for the first time on arrival in the UK. Others thought the UK less
racist than other countries.
* Support from local authorities and the independent
sector is often poorly co-ordinated.
Thanks to Save the Children for this information. For
further reading about this subject, please contact:
Save the Children, 195 Fog Lane, Manchester M20 6FJ.
Telephone: 0161 434 8337, Fax: 0161 445 9408.
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