Age Assessment at the Border and the Challenges for Child Migrant Integration in the UK

Thousands of child migrants knowns as unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) in the UK are being wrongly assessed by the UK Border Force (immigration officials) as adults at the point of entry into the UK. Recent legislation adopted by the British Government has further blurred the legal and policy remit of age assessment: whether it should serve an immigration enforcement role or a social care one. There are various forms of age assessment currently in place used to determine UASC’s age: the visual age assessment (used by immigration officials at the border), a more holistic method used by social workers, the scientific methods (still in pipeline) used by medical experts and AI technologies (facial age estimation), which are currently being piloted to replace the age assessment at the border. Indeed, UASC may undergo multiple age assessments with different outcomes. However, it is widely contended that no method can accurately determine chronological age. Moreover, the high numbers of UASC wrongfully classified as adults by any of the age assessment procedures experience long-term social, legal and welfare consequences. Evidence from stakeholders highlight the detrimental effects of age disputes and flawed outcomes on young people regarding their access to children’s social services, healthcare, education, and their mental health. The treatment of UASC during age assessment and its impact on these children amounts to the “politics of asylum violence”. By drawing on qualitive interview data, legal and policy document analysis, and official statistics, this paper argues that the key aspects of the asylum violence experienced by UASC deny them basic children’s rights which hamper and even nullify their chances of integrating in the community and the society at large. First, they are treated as legal adults, hence they can experience deportation and detention. Second, they are denied their rights and entitlements as children, and therefore they are placed in adult accommodation and asylum hotels, where often they need to share rooms with adults. Third, UASC determined as adults are denied access to education and training, which further compounds their chances of getting employment and being able to contribute to and integrate in the community. Fourth, UASC treated as adults lack access to their personal identity, as revealed by age, which further obstructs their sense of belonging and acceptance. Finally, if UASC cannot overturn – via courts - the wrongfully assigned age to them by the authorities, they will be further denied a treatment as “children” by the asylum system.