Migrant children in the UK: Official discourses and ambivalent policies on the protection of a vulnerable group

In December 2010 the British Coalition government announced that Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre would close to children following a review of the detention of migrant children in the UK. Such closure was said to mark ‘an enormous culture shift within the immigration system’ (N. Clegg) placing the welfare of children at the centre of a fairer and more compassionate system. The reform, long awaited by field associations and the Children’s Commissioner for England, has come after the many reports on the conditions in which children subject to immigration controls were treated at ports of entry and during detention. The UK asylum system has long been criticised for the impact immigration rules have had on their physical and mental health: insufficient attention paid to the specificity of their condition, failure to assess their real age, practice of threatening children with removal, etc.

New texts issued by the UK Border Agency have been drawing the attention of case workers and immigration officers as to the paramount importance of safeguarding the welfare of children. The appointment of a Children’s Champion within the UKBA, the training of family case workers to consider children’s rights during the process of repatriating families testify to the UK government willingness to adopt a different attitude from that of their predecessors. But recent policy developments contradict the stated and intended objectives of the measures aimed at protecting vulnerable children. Hence the UK has joined other European countries such as the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden to establish the European return platform for unaccompanied minors to enable the return journey of Afghan minors. Policies and procedures in the screening process to assess the children’s claim still fail to consider their needs. Despite Nick Clegg’s triumphant announcement that no children would be locked up in removal centres as from December 2010, the latest report from Refugee Council (May 2012) discloses that minors are still detained in the UK while their case is being examined. Finally, in the current austerity context, the government cuts in the legal aid has meant that the chances of migrant children finding good lawyers has been made more difficult, thereby undermining their possibilities to remain in the UK once they turn eighteen.

This paper intends to look at the discrepancies between the official discourses made by leading politicians in the government to promote at all times the welfare of migrant children and the way policy developments have been underpinned by a prevalent culture of disbelief towards asylum seekers. It also considers some of the leading case law which has reminded the British government of its international obligation to ensure the children’s safety and wellbeing.