Unaccompanied minors in Denmark - definition by authorities

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1 By Nina Hannemann, UFC-Boern og unge 1 This paper gives a short introduction to unaccompanied minors arriving in Denmark on the subjects welcome, integration and family reunification. Changes in the Danish Aliens Act from January 2003 brought some important improvements for unaccompanied foreign children seeking asylum in the country, but in order to meet the recommended policies and practices in the Statement of good practice, produced by the Separated Children in Europe Programme 2 in 1999, some conditions still needs to be improved. The content of the following refers to the subjects: Unaccompanied minors in Denmark definition by authorities Welcome and rules applicable to unaccompanied children Asylum or residence permit Appointment of representative and legal guardian Conditions for receiving an attorney Integration Family tracing, contact and reunification Statistics Unaccompanied minors in Denmark - definition by authorities Almost all unaccompanied foreign children in Denmark arrive and start their life in the country as unaccompanied minor asylum seekers. Illegal migration and children living underground probably does exist but not to the same extend as in the South of Europe. The authorities, The Danish Immigration Service, define an unaccompanied minor as follows: In Denmark, an unaccompanied minor is defined as a person under 18 years of age who enters the country without parents or other persons who are responsible for the child, e.g. siblings or grandparents. Also children who enter the country accompanied, but who are later abandoned, are treated as unaccompanied. An unaccompanied child can have parents or other close relatives in the home country or in third countries, but can also be an orphan. Source: The Danish Immigration Service UFC Boern og Unge is a Development and Communication Center for social issues as it relates to children and youth. The Center refers to the Ministry of Social Affairs, and has close working relationship with other ministries, counties, local authorities, organizations and educational- and research facilities. 2 The Separated Children in Europe Programme is a joint initiative of some members of the International Save the Children Alliance in Europe and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 1

2 Welcome and rules applicable to unaccompanied children 3 All foreign children have the right to seek asylum in Denmark. But as the Danish Aliens Act does not include special rules for the treatment of asylum applications from children, the unaccompanied children must fulfil the same conditions as other asylum seekers in order to obtain an eventual examination of their applications and subsequent grant of asylum. However children are considered a particularly vulnerable group, and special guidelines, for the examination of the children s applications, were devised in According to these guidelines, asylum applications from children will be examined as quickly as possible. - The objective is to have the case finalised within three month. In reality the time of case work lasts from three months till, in some cases, two or three years dependent of the single case and the situation in country of origin of the child. While the application is processed the children are housed by the Danish Red Cross in a special accommodation centre. The centre has specially trained personnel, and an internal school offers classes in a variety of subjects. The centre also provides the children with the necessary health care and psychological support if needed. The children stay in the Red Cross Centre, until their case is decided. A considerable part of the elder mainly boys disappears from the centre again, - often within the first few weeks. Some of the unaccompanied children have the possibility to be placed with extended family living in Denmark, while their application is processed. In these cases the Danish Red Cross continues to oversee the conditions of the child until the case is decided. Asylum or residence permit Unaccompanied children will only be permitted to go through an asylum case examination if they are mature enough to do so. This generally includes children over the age of 15 years, but in some cases children between 12 and 15 years of age can be considered mature enough to go through the asylum procedure as well. If the Danish Immigration Service considers a child immature in regard to proceed an asylum case examination, the child will be granted a residence permit, and the asylum case examination stops. The child can still require having his or her asylum case tried, without this influencing the granted residence permit, if the result of the asylum case examination should turn out to be negative. Children under the age of 12 years will be granted a residence permit, if their case meets the requirements for obtaining this, and their case will not be tried in an asylum case procedure either. 3 Sources: The Danish Immigration Service 2003 and Guidelines for representatives, June 2003, The Ministry of Integration in cooperation with The Danish Immigration Service, The Directorate for Civil rights, Danish Red Cross with contributions from the Danish Refugee Council. 2

3 If telephone contact to the parents is easily made, the child will be refused a residence permit unless for practical reasons it is impossible to reunite the child with the parents in the home country. If the Immigration Service delivers a rejection to the application of asylum, the child may, in certain cases, receive a residence permit anyway. This can for example happen, if the child would have excessive difficulty surviving in his or her country of origin due to the lack of an adequate support network in form of family, other adults, public assistance, etc. Information regarding the health of the child, and the need of the child for particular care or support will also be taken to consideration. Finally, the general situation in the child s country of origin, as for example conditions of war, will be taken into account. If an unaccompanied child is granted a residence permit, the permit is initially limited to a period of 2 years and 10 months. When the residence permit expires, the child can seek an extension. In order to receive such an extension, the child must continue to fulfil the conditions for residence in Denmark. Children who have come to Denmark before the age of 15 can apply for Danish citizenship when they reaches the age of 18 years. All others must have stayed in Denmark for eight years before they, under certain conditions, can apply for a Danish citizenship. If the child s parents are traced with in the first seven years, the child can have his or her residence permit revoked. Appointment of representative and legal guardian In January 2003 the Danish Parliament passed a change in the law relating to guardianship and appointment of a representative of the child. This means that every unaccompanied child, registered as an asylum seeker after 1 st of April 2003, will have a personal representative appointed to attend to the interests of the child. If the child is accompanied by elder siblings or fx grandparents, who have taken responsibility for the child, a representative will not be appointed. The Danish Red Cross, who administers the representative service, will be asked to recommend a representative to the local authority (statsamt), which hereafter formally will appoint the representative. The representative will not be affiliated with immigration authorities, and can, for example, be a relative or other private citizen. If the child is over 12 years of age, there will, if possible, be held a meeting with the child regarding the appointment of the representative. The objective of the representative is to support and guide the child during the asylum case examination: for example, by accompanying the child during the asylum interview. The representative will also support the child on a more personal level. The work of the representative is voluntary, and there is no economic compensation either in regard to possible travel expenses or loss of earnings of the representative. The representative stops his or her engagement, when or if the child is granted asylum or a residence permit, when the child reaches 18 years of age or if a parent or other person in custody of the child appears. 3

4 And other important improvement in relation to guardianship, that came with the change in Danish law from January 2003 is, that all unaccompanied children, who are granted asylum or a residence permit, must have a temporary legal guardian appointed. The temporary legal guardian is in custody of the child, until a parents or other legal guardian of the child eventually appears, or when the child reaches the age of 18 years. Since 1993 the Danish Red Cross has provided unaccompanied children with an assessor, whenever the child has to be in contact with the authorities. The task of an assessor is to support the child in the situation of interrogation and conversation with authorities related to the asylum case examination. The assessor also has to ensure, that everything takes place with proper regard to the age and maturity of the child and to the character of the case. When a representative is appointed, the assessor can continue to be present during contact with the authorities, if this is the wish of the representative. Conditions for reviewing an attorney An unaccompanied child in Denmark is not appointed an attorney while the asylum application is examined. But if a child s asylum case is decided according to the manifestly unfounded procedure, the Danish Immigration Service now will appoint an attorney to represent the child. In cases, where the child is refused asylum in the normal asylum procedure, the Refugee Board will provide the child with an attorney, as the case I brought before the Board. Integration After the granting of asylum or a residence permit to an unaccompanied child the Danish Immigration Service decides, where in the country, - in which municipality, the child shall be placed. Like all other refugees in Denmark the children are allocated after a certain plan of distribution a quota. However certain criteria s are taken into consideration regarding the placement of unaccompanied minors such as extended family of the child living in a certain part of the country, wishes of the child and the conditions in the municipality in question. After the decision of placement the responsibility of the child is handed over to the local authorities, which has to find a solution to how and where the child shall be housed, go to school and what other forms of support and care to be needed. The local authority is provided a social report from the Red Cross centre to support the assessment of the needs of the child. Some of the unaccompanied minor children are placed in residential care or in special children s houses. Others are placed in house- or flat-share with other unaccompanied minors and with support from educated staff. Siblings are normally placed together, and there are 4

5 examples of childrens houses set up for a group of siblings consisting of unaccompanied foreign children. Some children are placed with extended family members, while others gets to live alone in a rented room or flat with adult support. From the granting of asylum or a residence permit to an unaccompanied child the handing over to the local authorities has to take place within the present month plus 30 days. Written official guidelines or Good practices regarding integration of unaccompanied minors in the municipalities does not exist, but a small number of evaluation reports of different children s houses or housing arrangements does exist. Dependent of the age of the child, he or she starts in reception classes in the local schools or fx continuation schools after arriving in the municipality. Education, training and adequate placement in the education system are one of the difficult tasks in relation to unaccompanied minors as it is to other migrant youth who arrive in the country, at the age between 13 and 18 yeas old. Family tracing, contact and reunification According to the new legislation in January 2003 the Danish Immigration Service are expected to commence tracing the child s family as soon as the asylum application is lodged. The tracing or investigation may occur in cooperation with the Danish Red Cross, or other similar organisation appointed by the Minister for Refugee, Immigration and Integration Affairs. The child or the representative must approve of this, before the tracing takes place. If the child refuses to have his or her parents investigated, the representative can allow the authorities to do so anyway, if he or she estimates this to be in the best interest of the child. According to the Danish Aliens Act regarding family reunification the possibility of reuniting the child and family in Denmark is almost impossible to obtain. Only a small number of cases are known where unaccompanied children have been reunited with their parents in Denmark. However during the past years there have been some experiences travelling from Denmark with unaccompanied children to visit the parents or close family in their country of origin or in third countries. And after a verdict in an appeal court, where the relevant local authority was instructed to pay for the travel costs of a Somali girl, who wished to visit her mother in Somalia, the decision formed a precedent. After this a number of local authorities in Denmark have agreed to pay for the expenses of unaccompanied children and professional staff, which might accompany them, to visit the family of the child. The visits have not been without problems or challenges, but in many cases it has helped the children to handle their new life situation in Denmark in a better way. - The children have learned a lot about their country of origin, and they have met their roots. This has helped strengthening the children s feeling of identity. Meeting with their parents after many years of separation, and the opportunity to get to know their family again, has for some of the children 5

6 given them a peace of mind, that they lacked before. And several of the children has been more focused, after returning to Denmark again, in regard to their visions for the future and their eager and ability to obtain educational skills. Statistics The number of unaccompanied refugee children in Denmark has decreased the past years, as has the number of refugees arriving in the country in general. The statistics regarding number of unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers and country of origin is as follows: Unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers Nationality Afghanistan Algeria Belarus Burundi FRY Guinea Iran Iraq PRC China Russia Somalia Sri Lanka Stateless Palestinians Turkey Others Total Source: Danish Immigration Service, Statistical Overview 2002:17 In the years 2000, 2001 and 2002 respectively 91, 110 and 107 unaccompanied minors were granted either asylum or a residence permit in Denmark. (Source: The Danish Immigration Service, Statistical overview 2003) 6

7 Unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers by age and sex Age Sex Numbers 2000 Numbers 2001 Numbers years Males Females Subtotal years Males Females Subtotal years Males Females Subtotal Total % % % Source: Danish Immigration Service, Statistical Overview 2002: 17 Unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers in 2002 and 2003 Table 1: The number of unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers applying for asylum in Denmark for the current and the previous year broken down by main nationalities. [Updated monthly] Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec total total Iraq Afghanistan Somalia Serbia and Montenegro Algeria Others Total Comments: Data for 2003 is provisional. The nationalities are chosen according to the number of applications in the previous years. Source: The Danish immigration Service. 7