Plight of Children Asylum Seekers in the UK - Essay Example

Plight of Children Asylum Seekers in UK By Plight of Children Asylum Seekers in UK Introduction The centre of debate in the mainstream media and political circles regarding asylum seekers is that they should be treated with suspicion and dealt with firmly since they are not qualified as genuine refugees. They are mostly defined as economic migrants, and following a massive influx of asylum seekers from Syria, Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, and Afghanistan into UK, the question of resettlement under the UNHCR benefaction raises some serious political, moral and social question regarding the special needs of these refugees. For instance, Britain has had semiformal policies and programs when it comes to resettlement of refugees, and this has made the most vulnerable groups comprising children and older people not to be given mainstream social services. Thus, under UK laws, an asylum seeker as an individual who has officially applied for sanctuary with the intention of being classified as a refugee even though the application is not yet decided. Most of the refugees and asylum seekers coming into UK search for better lives, liberty, security, and respect of their health and fundamental human rights, things which they have been denied in their countries of origin. However from 2000, the Home Office has continuously implemented policies based on dispersal and asylum seekers detained with no option basis within different locations across UK (Stewart, 2011, p. 26). This goes in contravention of the Human Rights Act of 1998 which enshrined public authorities the duty to uphold persons human rights, based on Geneva Convention of 1951 and which is the foundation for present international and local laws dealing with refugee status. Thus, the resolution to resettle asylum seekers is normally conducted due to lack of other options, like voluntary repatriation and integration, or in cases when resettlement is deemed as the best robust solution for the persons in question. However, under EU Commission resettlement via selection is not considered as an alternate to asylum seeking. Thus, this research proposal seeks to conduct a literature review of what is acknowledged regarding the plight of asylum seekers children in UK, their experiences and requirements, including the gaps which exist in information and evidence base. This paper conducts a literature review of asylum seekers children situations in UK in terms of their journey to UK, their detention, social services exclusion, while raising issues for additional research and policy progression. The key emphasis of this literature review regards the social exclusion of asylum seekers in UK. Discussion When it comes to issue facing asylum seekers and refugees in UK, they should not be considered as one whole homogenous group, but that they have a variety of needs, personal incidences and expectations. Social researcher Harvey mentions that there is now a widespread tendency to make easy universal ideas regarding asylum seekers, and such images only serve to create stereotypes as well as misconception regarding the real needs of individual asylum seekers and refugees (2000, p.186). To begin with, UK has four forms of legal standing whereby a refugee can be given a legal status. Firstly, through indefinite Leave to remain rule, whereby the individual is offered refugee status and then a temporary right to stay (Migration Observatory, 2011, Para 4). Secondly, Exceptional Leave to Remain rule whereby the person is permitted to stay since sending them back will amount to inhumane treatment or rather impractical. However, this policy was halted in 2003 and replaced with Humanitarian Protection policy whereby the person is permitted to stay when they face existent risk of peril when they are returned home. Hence, a person stay is reviewed under a three year basis, and following two renewals that person can seek indefinite Leave to Remain status. Then there is the Discretionary Leave to Remain policy whereby an individual is permitted to stay when it is deemed impractical based on human rights reasons, legal reasons and practical causes to return to host nation (Migration Observatory, 2011, Para 5). There are various reasons why people from conflict zones like Afghanistan’s or Syria come to UK, and various studies are documented detailing the refugees’ stories of survival, trauma and experiences of UK social care (Candappa, 2003, p. 54; Crawley, 2010, Para 4) (Kidane & Amarena, 2004, p. 120). Thomas, Nafees, & Bhugra documented numerous stories of refugee children observing horrible incidences of their family members being killed, raped, or tortured (2004, p. 55). In their assessment, they used a group of lawyers and department of social care services workers, to reveal how majority of young and unaccompanied asylum seekers in UK reported having undergoing some form of abuse. Other studies also report that most of the unaccompanied children asylum seekers are those whose parents disappeared through state sanctioned oppression or imprisonment and most of them reported experiencing higher state of anxiety and apprehension (Ayotte, 2000, p. 20; Somerset, 2004, p. 50).Other children reported that they came to UK through traffickers and they were subjected to sexual exploitation and forced child labour (Rutter, 2001, p. 20).Young girls in particular are used as servants and abused with some as little as 13 years coming to UK all on their own since their parents were killed, before being passed among various families who never sent them to school as they mistreated them. The major aspect of social exclusion that such children and young people face comprises the lack of English speaking, incidences of racism and bigotry. The Great Britain: Parliament: Joint Committee on Human Rights, (2007, p. 431) report that some of these young refugees and asylum seekers, experienced conditions whereby their parents did not respond to their psychological needs and emotional anxiety adequately. The committee attributes this to the fact that most of these kids are left to relatives unknown to them while their parents work continuously. Furthermore, others are being mistreated by UK social services workers in very inappropriate manners, and such traumatic experiences with no professional support makes their experiences not to be understood so as to assist them in settling down, and to regain a feeling of stability within their new environment. However, as noted by Save the Children in their 2004 report, it is not easy to keep track of how many of these children and exactly where in UK they are, since official figures from home office are derived from those who applied for asylum status. Hence, there is no in general data base which presents official statistics regarding both accompanied and unaccompanied refugees and asylum seeking children (Save the Children, 2004, Para 5). Given that successive British administrations have been enforcing an increasingly restraining and stern policy on asylum seekers, many new asylum seekers increasingly find it hard to acquire significant lives in Britain (Kohli, 2008, p. 179). This is more so due to massive reductions in social support or welfare provisions. Furthermore, ever since responsibility for refugee and asylum support was shifted from British local authorities to the central agency inside the Home Office, refugees and Asylum seekers do not have the previous option regarding where they wish to be accommodated. This then has resulted in their dispersion across Britain and it makes it hard to advance social services to such children while keeping good track of their progress. As Jones observed, asylum seekers pre-migration experience reveal that they do not settle down effortlessly, compared to immigrants chosen on family and skills criteria (2001, p. 254). Furthermore, they normally endure extensive phase unemployment, poverty and psychological traumas. Particularly those who have survived torture and imprisonment are at greater risk of mental illness. Britain does not offer a standard induction program for asylum seekers, and they are forced to gain knowledge regarding their living or working in Britain from existing agency networks such as the Border Agency. Thus, the post-arrival treatment and management in detention or accommodation centres presents an added effect on their future lives, mostly when it comes to their settlement, social integration, as well as mental health. Research done by Duke, Sales, & Gregory, notes that attitudes of the local communities in which such refugees are integrated whether hospitable or hostile, play an imperative position in their settlement (1999, p. 110). For instance, conflicts do arise between different refugee groups due to divisive actions of politics, social classes, religion and competition for similar resources in terms of jobs. Furthermore, as Penrose noted, their forced detention in accommodation centres alienates them from ordinary society, and which often denying them everyday activities which then exposes them to abuses, such as racism (2002, p. 30). Some of the laws passed recently have had a tremendous impact on asylum seekers and their children. In particular the Asylum and Immigration (Appeals) Act 1993 which eliminated their right to social housing tenancies, has been studied to have resulted in many children and their families to increase their mobility as they escape authorities Hek (2005, p. 9), observed such a policy disrupts the children access to education and access to healthcare services. Undocumented parents also fear because the system calls for fingerprinting of the entire family. Secondly, the Asylum and Immigration Act passed in 1996 meant that families are not offered cash assistance but vouchers to cater for their food exchangeable within supermarkets. Consequently, such a provision has marginalized certain refugees since they are not able to access their religious and culturally suitable foods, and to make matters worse, the act now places restrictions when it comes to employment as the parents cannot work legally, thus increasing the intensity of poverty for their children. Hek considers the Immigration and Asylum Act of 1999 elimination of benefit entitlement for asylum seekers as being detrimental for their survival, as the National Asylum Support Service became the only body responsible for allocating housing with a controversial rule that only a single housing allocation is made with no choice of location (2005, p 10). Lynch & Cuninghame, (2000, p. 385), Dennis (2002, p. 20), and Rutter (2001, p. 30) notes that very many unaccompanied young people and children are forced to undergo dispersal using other names after moving out of boroughs, due to insufficient placements. A children report by Hamilton, Daly, & Fiddy (2003, p. 5) documented the negative consequences of this act, and the outcomes are enormous not just to the adults asylum seekers but also to the children. In particular, the Act eliminated the rights under Children Act 1989 which required British local authorities to make certain that refugee and asylum seekers children are offered sufficient living standards. This isolated them from mainstream societies due to termination of contacts with their friends, families or even community, and this has resulted in most of the children living under no support and accommodation leading to poverty, and undesirable social behaviours like drug abuse and alcohol consumption. Hek also demonstrates the negative impact of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, which saw the introduction of Induction Centres whereby those seeking asylum have to lodge application with negative outcome resulting in forced detention inside accommodation centres before elimination from UK entirely (2005, p. 11). Furthermore, an introduction of Section 55 of the 2002 Act gave the home Office permission to withdraw assistance for in-country asylum applicants who did not apply under 72 hours practicable time. This then left many of them as destitute with no shelter or access to social services. The Asylum and Immigration Act 2004 also had similar effects and the Refugee Council in their 2004 report voiced strong concerns regarding the act call for removal of basic assistance for families, in situation whereby the family compromised a child’s welfare assistance (Refugee Council, 2004, p. 7). As a result, the children are required to be removed from the family entirely by local authorities. Thus, social workers and researchers have argued that this provision of forced separation of children from their families even though beneficial under extreme circumstances, it fails to provide the child parents sufficient legal rights to dispute what they may consider as unlawful decisions regarding their cases. The act curbs their right to appeal even as it allows the authorities to send them to a third country considered to be safe for them without their consent (Cemlyn & Briskman, 2003, p. 165). Various studies have interviewed directly the asylum seekers, their children and even those unaccompanied children in trying to bring out the issues that are crucial to them. Reports by Macaskill (2002, p. 10), Mynott & Humphries (2003, p.20), and Chapman & Clader, (2003, p. 4) reveals the gaps in understanding the children’s experiences of UK special needs services. These studies have provided real accounts of the children experiences, especially their harrowing experiences in trafficker’s hands, their journey across different nations on their way to UK, and their current state whereby they do not have access to significant services particularly the disabled children. For instance, Mynott & Humphries (2003, p.20), reports that the children’s needs vary from multifaceted learning difficulties to physical impairments. Macaskill (2002, p. 10), in particular reports of the children anxiety during the entire the processing of immigration status and the process of asylum claims, especially due to lack of information. It appears that most of these literature seems to criticizes existing government policy and regulations on handling of asylum seekers children, particularly the measures lack of emphasis on the children needs first, before processing of their status. While many reported their arrival in UK as being frightening, chaotic with minimal or lack of attention, others reported experiencing the risk of being exploited, mainly due to their lack of knowledge regarding the language, and disappointment with the reality they had to undergo (Kidane & Amarena, 2004, p. 124). For instance, Kidane (2001, p. 20) reports that one refugee ethnic Albanian kid had previously though that Britain is a democratic nation that the rights of every human being are respected and equal, but on arrival he found out that only those documented are able to enjoy those rights fully. The children also reveal the often embarrassing age determination tests such as the bone age test, the dental age test, the puberty assessment and the anthropometric measures. Thus, Rutter (2001, p. 30). The belief across such literature is that caution needs to be exercised when performing such tests on children due to their traumas and legal purposes and if need be they should be done by social workers but in an holistic manner and in view of factors like the child own account and views from other professionals. Conclusion This paper has evaluated critically relevant and contemporary literature and research studies on the plight of children asylum seekers in UK. The paper concludes that there is still minimal specific research regarding protection of asylum seekers children with most focusing on needs of young refugees. However, most of the literature brings out clearly the emotional, educational and physical wellbeing of these children in UK, like poor housing, inadequate access to special needs education. Such outcomes have been attributed to lack of appropriate language interpreters, inadequate health services professionals who recognize their health needs. Furthermore, the literatures acknowledge that the detention of such children in numerous detention centres exposes them to risks of abuses and physical mistreatment. Also, the qualitative studies reveal that the children are denied mainstream education even as they are being exposed to psychological trauma arising from heightened emotional problems. A positive aspect from the literature is that non-governmental organizations are pushing the government to ensure that the children are entitled to regular health surveillance including health promotions. Based on the literature review this paper recommends that when it comes to those asylum seekers children accompanied with their parents, the authorities should realize that it is within such family setups that the children experience various protective factors, and as such, they should support their parents so as to build in these kids resilience which will enable them to cope under the new environment. When it comes to unaccompanied children, they need to be entitled to complete evaluation and support through social services, and they should have similar legal entitlements as any other UK citizen children as guaranteed by Children Act 1989 and the UK Human Rights Act of 1998. List of References Ayotte, W. (2000). Separated Children Coming To Western Europe. Why they travel and how They Arrive. London: Save The Children. Candappa, M. (2003). Everyday Worlds of Young Refugees in London. Feminist Review , 73, 54-65. Cemlyn, S., & Briskman, L. (2003). Asylum, Children’s Rights and Social Work. Child and Family Social Work , 8, 163 – 178. Chapman, R., & Clader, A. (2003). Starting over. Young refugees talk about life in Britain. London: Princes Trust. Crawley, H. (2010). Chance or Choice? Understanding Why Asylum Seekers Come to the UK. London: Refugee Council. Dennis, J. (2002). A case for change. How refugee children in England are missing out. London,. 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