Get your MP to back the Age Matters EDM!

You can do you bit to help separated children seeking asylum by writing to your MP and urging them to back EDM 2280 'Age disputes for separated children seeking asylum'.

Why change is needed?
The current process of age assessment is subjective and difficult to make rigorous, with appearance often being used as a deciding factor. The current system is not only unfair and flawed in terms of how it assesses separated children seeking asylum but is also inappropriate and inefficient. The system often results in numerous appeals, which consequently undermines its effectiveness and the reputation of UK asylum system with practitioners and public alike.

Click on the link to download the template letter for your MP. If you don't know who your MP is you can find out from http://www.upmystreet.com/commons/l/

Scottish Students Sleep Out for Refugee Children

As part of STAR ’s nationwide day of action, Edinburgh University STAR (Student Action for Refugees) members were literally, left out in the cold, as they took part in a ‘sleep out’ outside the University Students’ Association.

STAR members Tammy Gill and Andy McPake braved the bitter cold and rain to demostrate the situation some separated children asylum seekers may find themselves in, Students signed and sent letters to all the Edinburgh MPs, calling for them to urge the Government to replace the current system – which often makes a decision based on a child’s appearance – with an independent decision making panel.

Tammy Gill, spokesperson for the Edinburgh group said: “In general, young people have enough to deal with without the added worry of having to prove their age in what can be a life or death situation. A wrong decision on age can leave a child alone, homeless and sleeping rough, without any kind of support or guidance. "

How you can help....

You can do your bit and take action for separated children seeking asylum. Please dowload a letter and write to your MP. You can find out who your MP is by visiting www.locata.co.uk/commons

The Government says that every child matters and they must prove this by changing its policy to ensure that separated asylum seeking children are supported through a fair prcess of age assessment by an independent decision making body.

Every letter counts! Please let STAR know at campaigns@star-network.org.uk about any responses you get from your MP.

'Save the Children' support for STAR

Major charity Save the Children has given their backing to STAR's Age Matters! campaign:

"Save the Children supports STAR's campaign 'Age Matters!'. We are especially concerned that the onus to prove age lies with the young person and that age disputed young people are detained with adults. Age assessment is not an exact science and an independent and holistic approach is, in Save the Children's opinion, the way forward to ensure children are protected and their best interests guaranteed."

Rona Blackwood, Assistant Programme Director, Save the Children, England Programme

Who is a separated child?

Someone who is under 18 years of age, outside their country of origin and separated from both parents or the adults that look after them.

They have had to flee their home country because of fear of persecution, because they are victims of traffcking or to escape poverty or deprivation

They arrive in the UK alone and possibly scared, confused and unable to communicate in English. Like all people who flee persecution and seek safety in another country they have a right to be protected and treated fairly. As children they are also entitled to education, to support and to be treated as a young person.

What issues do separated children seeking asylum in the UK face?

Imagine what it’s like when you say you are under 18 but people don’t believe you!
There are a lot of things you can tell by looking at a person’s appearance.
Their age is not always one of them.

Young people seeking asylum in the UK often have no way of proving how old they are: no ID, no passport, no birth certificate.
For separated children their appearance is often the only way their age is decided.

And an incorrect decision on their age may put them in a life or death situation – literally.
This can mean a child is…
…Detained - Imprisoned, denied freedom, cut off from normal life. Seeking asylum is not a crime, but young people are routinely locked up in prison like conditions
Recent studies in Oakington detention centre found that 48% of young people whom the Home Office had said were 18 or over were later found to be under 18 by Social Services and released .
…Denied access to school or college, to learn and to invest in their future
…Isolated – Unable to meet other young people and make friends
…Left to cope alone with the confusion, fear and uncertainty of the changes in their lives and the asylum system
…Made to feel like a liar

Experiences of separated children living in the UK

Alexander from Rwanda

When he was 14, armed rebels raided Alexander’s home. They raped his two sisters in front of him and destroyed everything before abducting him. For over a year the rebels made Alexander wash and cook for them. He was forced to watch raids like the one that had destroyed his own home. When he finally managed to escape he was accused of being a rebel himself and was sent to prison. With his entire family missing, Alexander was still only 16 when he arrived in the UK, but the Home Of.ce refused to believe his age. He was left to negotiate the asylum system alone and felt distressed and suicidal. Eventually the Home Office re-assessed his age and admitted Alexander was a vulnerable child in need of support. He now lives in supported foster care and attends sessions with a child psychotherapist.