Age disputed children
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Each year a number of unaccompanied children enter the UK, usually to seek asylum. These children may have been separated from their parents during a journey from their country of origin, or may have travelled to the UK on their own. Unaccompanied children can be subjected to immigration detention if the Home Office believes - on the basis of their appearance or demeanour - that they are ‘significantly over 18 years old’ and the child or young person cannot prove otherwise. The Home Office is allowed to treat them as an adult unless challenged, and if they are challenged these are what are referred to as ‘age dispute cases’.
Home office policy, which is discussed later in this chapter, for how age is assessed has come under extensive criticism. The Refugee and Migrants Children’s Consortium (RMCC) report ’ discusses the devastating consequences of children being treated as adults. Showing how widespread these impacts are, their report revealed that - in the first half of 2024 - 63 local authorities in England and Scotland received 603 referrals from stakeholders who suspected young people were being wrongly placed in adult accommodation or detention due to inaccurate Home Office age assessments.
“There are no safeguards in place for children who say they are children but are still treated as adults by the Home Office, which is a rising area of concern… RMCC members regularly see children as young as 14 treated as adults by the Home Office and placed in immigration detention or alone in adult accommodation at significant risk.”[1]
– a report by Captain Support, Humans for Rights Network and Refugee Legal Support – talks about the impact of people being criminalised for seeking sanctuary in the UK via irregular routes under the Nationality and Borders Act (2022). Their report, published February 2024, revealed 15 age disputed children (identified by Humans for Rights Network) who were wrongly treated as adults and charged with these offences, with 14 spending time in adult prison.
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