Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children Meeting

Widespread instabilities affecting countries like Iraq, Somalia, Iran, Eritrea, Albania, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe have brought about a rise in the number of people including the young ones fleeing their home countries to seek for sanctuary in the United Kingdom and indeed other European countries. Most of these refugees will have endured severe torture, brutality, endemic sexual violence, armed conflicts, exploitation and persecution.
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The Leicester City of Sanctuary, a Movement formed in 2007 organised a meeting at the Friends Meeting House on the 10th of July 2008 to highlight the plight of the vulnerable group of children, young men and women who often come into this country without their parents or other adults to care for them. True to their motto, the primary aim of the movement is to ‘build a culture of hospitality for asylum seekers and refugees.’

There was a large turnout for the occasion comprising of individuals and groups/organisations working with children, asylum seekers and refugees. Refreshments were served from 6:30pm and the meeting kicked off in earnest at 7pm when Helen Everett, the Chairperson of Leicester City of Sanctuary welcomed all in attendance and introduced the three speakers for the evening.

Speaker 1

Chipo Muteve, a final year BA Honours Social Work student from De Mont Fort University gave an insight from a Social Services Work’s response to unaccompanied asylum seeker children. She first gave a definition of ‘unaccompanied children’ by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR, 1994 : 121) which states that Unaccompanied children are those children below eighteen years of age who have made an application for asylum and have gained temporary admission to the host country while their claim is being considered.

In the UK , the Home Office states that :

An unaccompanied child is a person who at the time of making the asylum application : is or (if there is no proof) appears to be under eighteen; is applying for asylum in his or her own right and has no adult relative or guardian to turn to in this country.

Chipo mentioned that as part of her work placement, she was allocated a case of an unaccompanied asylum seeker minor from Iraq ‘R’ (Name not given to protect client). R was referred to the Red Cross by his solicitor who needed him to be accompanied to a Social Service team in Loughborough for an age dispute assessment. The child could not understand English so a Kurdish Soran interpreter was made available to enable him to communicate. Chipo and two other social workers made a joint assessment which ascertained that the young man was seventeen and not twenty as the police had said.

Social Services took over the responsibility of the child from hence forth under the Children Act (1989) which gives them the obligation to care for all children in their Local Authority regardless of their Immigration status and was placed in foster care.

Children Act (1989) Section 20

Under provision of Section 20 of the Children Act 1989, a looked-after child will have a named Social care plan, an independent visitor and support after he or she leaves care. Children cared for under Section 20 also have educational entitlements.

Children Act 1989 Section 17

A child or young person may be supported under the provisions of Section 17 of Children Act 1989. Here a social services department assesses the child and concludes that he or she requires support services such as accommodation. After assessment, a social services department may decide to:

§ place the child with relatives or in other informal care arrangements
§ place the child with foster carers
§ place the child in a residential home
§ place the child in a supported local authority accommodation. Some older unaccompanied children are provided with their own housing but supported by a visiting social worker.

In closing, Chipo noted with concern that Social Services personnel often times discriminately assess unaccompanied asylum seeker children by not prioritizing their rights as embraced by the Children Act 1989 but instead apply Immigration laws first.

Speaker 2

The Centre Project in Leicester offers companionship to unaccompanied asylum seeking minors. The Director of the Project, Eric Waweru revealed that an average of thirty unaccompanied minors visit their project in the city. They are coping with the numbers.

Their main service user group are young people from Afghanistan and Eritrea .

One success story from the Project is that of a young man who came as an asylum seeker, enrolled for university and has now just completed a software engineering degree.

The youngest member of the project is 15 and the oldest 99. Members are encouraged to unite, interact and embrace despite tribal groupings. They share varied stories. There is also a computer room with internet. Interestingly, some members have never had a chance to use the internet in their lives, but after two weeks, they are well-capable).

Many of the young people have grown in confidence, stability and emotional strength.

The Project also invites young people from universities for placement. There are also cheap meals on offer and a variety of activities and outings.

For more about Centre Project visit : www.centreproject.org

Speaker 3

Another successful project which has over the years come on in leaps and bounds is the Loughborough based Dreamers Project. The founder of the Project, Andrew Lake told of the humble and moving manner the Leicestershire Youth Service Project started in 2002 when he bumped into a 17 year old Kosovan Youth right through to where they are now.

Dreamers supports nearly 100 young people displaced from their homelands and helps them to learn some of the skills and knowledge to assist them in settling into the community. Andrew cited that the project has succeeded in its endeavors to confront and address issues affecting its members like ‘boredom, lack of intergration and inclusion, poverty, isolation and their lost childhoods.’ Dreamers has developed a programme of ‘informal educational activities, workshops, sessions and experiences that meet the complex and multi-dimensional needs of the young people.’

These include :

§ a meeting with the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees and European Ambassadors for Refugees in London where members spoke about issues and concerns about government policy towards asylum seekers.
§ 12 young Afghanis’ visit with Andrew to the Foreign Office almost a month ago where they asked sharp and well-thought out questions.
§ a meeting with Loughborough MP, Andy Reed at Westminster to discuss about refugee issues
§ building group cohesion through workshops
§ attending community festivals and events, mounting display for the public to learn about refugees and asylum seekers and a lot other activities and events.

There was a fantastic presentation by three youths from the project. The message in the presentation was aimed at dispelling misconceptions about asylum seekers and refugees.

‘There is a real need to educate and encourage the open and honest debate about refugees and asylum seekers in our schools and wider communities. We need to encourage the exploration of facts and truths,’ said Andrew.

‘We need a society to challenge the untruths, myths and lies told about refugees and asylum seekers. For all of us, it is our moral responsibility to build a society based upon values of fairness and compassion to those who need our protection and care,’ he added.

Andrew went on to underscore the history of immense contribution made by refugees to the UK over the years. Some of the celebrated asylum seekers who have contributed to the economy and quality of our lives and thinking include:

* Joseph Malin, a Jewish refugee who established the world ‘s fish and chip shop in 1860
* Frank B.Cotton a Polish refugee who along with Austrian Carl Djerassi invented the contraceptive pill
* Phil Emeagwoli a Nigerian refugee who invented the super computer
* Andrew Grove(Andras Grof) a Hungarian now head of INTEL, a company dominating microchips and high tech innovation
* Albert Einstein a refugee from Germany who became the world’s most famous scientist
* A Russian Jewish refugee Sir Montague Burton, founder of the Burtons shop
* Alec Issigonis exiled from Turkey in 1906 who designed the Mini motor car widely regarded as a true great British icon.
* A Polish refugee Michael Marks who was one half of the great British retail institution Marks and Spencer.

Andrew also applauded the work being done by City of Sanctuary and encouraged the movement to help the British people to know more about refugees and asylum seekers. He has documented most of his professional diaries in his work with young asylum seekers into a publication called Hidden Voices. (ISBN 973-1-903947-19-7)

The Dreamers project has won many wards for its work including a B.T. Seen and Heard Award and a Phillip Lawrence Award.

For more about Dreamers visit : www.thejitty.com/dreamers.html

After the enlightening speeches Helen Everett invited delegates to ask questions and air their suggestions. Grave concern was raised about the role the media played in misinforming readers or listeners about asylum seekers and refugees and the bizarre experiences and challenges they face as they try to settle here.

Delegates also emphasized the need for serious consideration to be given by Social Service providers to children’s needs and rights. Also to acknowledge and appreciate their remarkable strength, desire and determination to fight for survival.

One foster carer emotionally spoke of how two young men were referred to her. They were from the back of a lorry. She has stayed with them for some time and is now more like a mother to them. They have bonded well and become a strong family unit.

Gill Buttery urged delegates present to sign the pledge of support for Leicester City of Sanctuary and spread the word about the movement to others in order to actively support the aims and activities of the movement. The City of Sanctuary aims to make asylum seekers feel more welcome in Leicester and provide opportunities for people to offer help to those who are destitute.

Helen thanked all delegates for making the meeting a success and announced the date for the next meeting to be held on Friday 17th October 2008. An official from the Independent Asylum Commission, Canon Nicholas Sagovsky, has been invited to speak about the outcomes of the recent review of the UK asylum system and its recommendations for changes to make it more ‘fit for purpose’.

Report By

Elisha Shamba
Editor – Hatnews