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Unaccompanied children no longer to suffer effects of `Gentleman’s Agreement’
The Landing in Dover report issued recently by Maggie Atkinson, Children's Commissioner for England uncovered the `Gentleman's Agreement' between the UK and France which conflicted with the UK Border Agency's (UKBA) duty to safeguard children and promote their welfare.
It also uncovered excessive periods of detention prior to release into local authority care due to the number and length of immigration interviews undertaken at the point of arrival.
The report results from an investigation by the Office of the Children's Commissioner (OCC) into the treatment of unaccompanied children asylum seekers when they first arrive in the UK. It has already led to changes in the way UKBA treats children seeking asylum.
The `Gentleman's Agreement' enabled unaccompanied children to be sent back to France within 24 hours if they did not immediately ask for asylum. This resulted in a significant failure of child protection.
Just over 1,700 unaccompanied children that entered the country in 2010 sought asylum (1), whilst a number of those returned to France under the Gentleman's Agreement, may have been trafficked for exploitation. (2)
Investigations by OCC have found children seeking asylum include those escaping war zones and persecution. (3) They are often hungry, ill, exhausted and distressed when they first arrive.
The tight timescales that need to be met to ensure an unchallenged return to France under the ‘Gentleman's Agreement' appears to have structured the way in which immigration processing occurs at Dover for both children and adults. Once the Children's Commissioner brought the Agreement to the attention of Rob Whiteman, UKBA's new Chief Executive, he ended the practice - in respect of children - immediately.
Maggie Atkinson, Children's Commissioner for England said "Children arriving unaccompanied in the UK are some of the most vulnerable that my office and society encounters. That is why we have continued to investigate how they are dealt with, working constructively with UKBA, to improve their treatment. This has been advanced through the end of the `Gentleman's Agreement'. I commend Rob Whiteman for acting decisively.
"We have also been working hard to achieve change for children based on the other recommendations that the report makes, some of which affect the local authority and the police too. We have just learned that UKBA has also ceased to conduct screening interviews on asylum seeking children when they first arrive - a practice which our investigation highlights as having detrimental effects on a child's prospects of establishing their claim. We welcome this further step in reorganising the arrangements for unaccompanied children arriving in Kent. My office will continue to work with the key agencies in the county to achieve the best outcomes for children and to ensure UKBA delivers on the commitments it has given me. We believe that immediate referral by UKBA or the police to the local authority is essential in order to give effect to the ‘best interests' principle."
Other recommendations in Landing in Dover which aim to improve the immigration process for children include:
- Using face to face interpreters and stopping the use of telephone interpreters for interviews other than for gathering basic details about the child's identity.
- Exploring ways in which the police can gather bio-data such as finger prints on UKBA's behalf when they are the first agency to encounter children who have just entered. This would enable them to arrange for the child to go directly into local authority care rather than to the immigration office for processing.
- Ensuring that when immigration interviews do take place that the child has had the chance to gain support from a legal representative and that their representative is able to accompany them, along with a Responsible Adult (4), to the interviews.
1 In 2010 (the last full year where data is available) across the whole of the UK there were 1,717 applications for asylum from unaccompanied children (excluding dependants). (Source: Home Office (2010) Immigration statistics
2 Home Office (2011) Human Trafficking: The Government's Strategy, p6.
3 OCC, (2011), Landing in Kent: The experience of unaccompanied children arriving in the UK
4 A `Responsible Adult' is someone independent of the Secretary of State and has temporary responsibility for a child for the duration of the immigration process being undertaken. Adults who may fulfil this role include social workers, teachers and doctors. See UK Border Agency (V5 11.08.10) Processing an Asylum Application from a Child.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Landing in Dover is a result of investigations undertaken by the Office of the Children's Commissioner in 2011 with the cooperation and assistance of staff from the UK Border Agency (UKBA), Kent County Council and Kent Police.
MEDIA ENQUIRIES
Sandeep Shah, Senior Communications Officer
Tel: 020 7783 8610, or for out-of-hours calls: 07920 765 454
Email: sandeep.shah@childrenscommissioner.gsi.gov.uk
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