Almost 14,000 unaccompanied minors – children under the age of 18 – registered as asylum seekers in the European Union (EU) in 2019, according to Eurostat. The chances that they will receive asylum depend significantly on the story they tell. Yet children still struggle to tell their story: they may not trust the adults asking them questions; they may not fully understand the procedures; and asylum decision makers may fail to consider what characteristics and experiences have left them vulnerable. Hearing procédures may even add to vulnerability when they are not appropriately tailored to the needs and abilities of youth. When children in need of protection go unheard, asylum policies and procedures have failed to adequately fulfil their purpose. To address dilemmas in unaccompanied minors’ asylum hearing procedures and how to resolve these issues, the VULNER project organised a High-Level Expert Meeting in October 2020. The meeting was chaired by project researchers Hilde Lidén (Institute for Social Research) and Sylvie Sarolea (Catholic University of Louvain).
Sarolea, Sylvie ; et. al. Vulnerabilities Beyond Age - Filling the gaps in asylum hearing procedures for unaccompanied minors. In: population-europe.eu, Vol. décembre 2020, no. 28, p. 1-4