THE ASYLUM-SEEKING CHILD IN EUROPE Editors: Hans E Andersson, Henry Ascher, Ulla Björnberg, Marita Eastmond and Lotta Mellander The Asylum-seeking Child in Europe Edited by Hans E Andersson, Henry Ascher, Ulla Björnberg, Marita Eastmond and Lotta Mellander ISBN: 91-89608-15-1 Cover: Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: ―A girl in a blue coat smiles in the province of Kosovo‖ © UNICEF/HQ99-1084/Roger LeMoyne Printed in Sweden by Vasastadens Bokbinderi AB Published by: Centre for European Research at Göteborg University (CERGU) P.O. Box 711 SE-405 30 Göteborg SWEDEN e-mail: [email protected] phone: +46 (0) 31 7734286 fax: +46 (0) 31 7731895 URL: http://www.cergu.gu.se ©The authors and CERGU, 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Foreword The Centre for European Research at Göteborg University (CERGU) was established in 1995. Its main aim is to stimulate multidisciplinary research and studies focusing on European issues. CERGU primarily fills the function as communication resource for researchers within different academic disciplines at Göteborg University and as support organisation for research networks with universities and institutes in Sweden and abroad. Conferences, seminars and workshops constitute some of the CERGU core activities, together with courses on the PhD, Graduate, and Undergraduate levels. CERGU also acts as host for multidisciplinary research projects. To promote contact between, on the one hand, researchers and students at Göteborg University and, on the other, interested parties in industry, business and the public sectors also constitutes a central task for CERGU. The initiative to organise the conference, The Asylum Seeking Child in Europe, was taken by the Steering Committee for the Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence at Göteborg University. The practical responsibilities were delegated to CERGU. The task to organise the conference was given to an organising committee with the following members: Ulla Björnberg, Professor, Department of Sociology, Hans Andersson, Lecturer PhD, Department of Poltitical Science, Henry Ascher, Assoc. Professor, MD, Department of Paediatrics, Marita Eastmond, Professor, Department of Social Anthroplogy, Lotta Mellander, Professor in International Medicin, MD, Department of Paediatrics. The organising committee has been supported administratively by Ms. Birgitta Jännebring (CERGU). It is our hope that this publication of the presentations at the conference will help promote future research in order gain a deeper understanding of the situation that asylum seeking children encounter in contemporary Europe. Questions and comments are welcome and should be addressed to [email protected], or to the authors. The organisers would like to gratefully acknowledge economic support from The Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence at Göteborg University, The Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research, The Swedish Research Council and The Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Göteborg, 5 June 2005 Per Cramér Director of CERGU/Chairman of the Steering Committee for the Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence at Göteborg University Contents The Asylum-seeking Child in Europe – An Introduction 1 PART I: International Law and European Refugee Policy Chapter 1: International Law and Children as Asylum-seekers 11 Carl Söderbergh Chapter 2: Europe and Beyond: The Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Impact on Refugee and Asylum-Seeking Child Observations from a UNHCR Perspective 17 Christoph Bierwirth Chapter 3: European Refugee Law and its Impact upon Children 37 Terry Smith Chapter 4: European States and the Asylum-seeking Child – An Overview 47 Kirsti Floor PART II: The Asylum-seeking Child in the Legal Process Chapter 5: Seeking Asylum Alone 57 Nadine Finch Chapter 6: Decisions on Separated Children who Apply for Asylum 67 Kate Halvorsen Chapter 7: A Child Perspective in the Swedish Asylum Process: Rhetoric and Practice 73 Eva Nilsson PART III: Traumatizing and Protective Factors During and After the Asylum- seeking Process Chapter 8: Seeking Asylum in Denmark: Refugee Children‘s Mental Health and Exposure to Violence 91 Edith Montgomery and Anders Foldspang Chapter 9: Rapes in War: Effects on Mother-child Relations 101 Henry Ascher Chapter 10: ―Why is This All Happening to Us?‖ The Importance of Early Interventions as Protective Factors in Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking Children 113 Loes H.M. van Willigen Chapter 11: Refugee Children‘s Long-term Adaptation in Sweden; General Outcomes and Prognostic Factors 127 Anders Hjern Chapter 12: Pervasive Loss of Function Progressing to Devitalization. An Earlier Unknown Life Threatening Stress Reaction Seen in Asylum-seeking Children in Sweden 135 Göran Bodegård PART IV: Exclusion or Integration? Social and Educational Aspects Chapter 13: Avenues of Access and the Parameters of Care: Reflections on Reception Procedures for Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking Children at a Port of Entry 143 Charles Watters Chapter 14: Asylum-seeking Children in English Pre-schools: Inclusion and Supportin the New Policy Climate 153 Vasilia Lilian Antoniou & Rachel Reynolds Chapter 15: Meeting the Needs of Young Asylum-seekers: The Role of Creative Activities 173 David Ingleby Chapter 16: Needs Assessment of Asylum-seeking Children in St. Petersburg 183 Oleg Pechenkov and Katerina Guerassimova Chapter 17: Changing Family Relations and the Situation of Children: Kosovo Albanian Asylum Seekers in Sweden 197 Karin Norman List of Authors 207 The Asylum-seeking Child in Europe – An Introduction Migration to and from Europe is hardly a recent phenomenon. The millions of Europeans who migrated to the US during the 18th and in particular the 19th century are a well-known example. Less well-known may be that this migration from Europe continued after World War II. Between 1945 and 1960, for example, about seven million people left Europe. As the large streams of refugees from Eastern to Western Europe after World War II show, migration within Europe is not new. For instance, about eight million Germans from Eastern Europe fled to Western Germany. From the beginning of the 1960s, most European countries (except for Eastern Europe) became countries of immigration when people arrived to benefit from and contribute to the creation of the evolving welfare states. The end of the 20th century was, however, once more characterized by forced migration. Between 1991 and 1998 more than one million individuals fled from former Yugoslavia. From the beginning of the 1980s, the number of refugees from third world countries has increased sharply along with other kinds of immigration1. Because the increased migration to a large extent has taken place at the same time as a slowdown in economic growth, many European countries have responded with more restrictive policies. Concomitant with the economic problems, the world is experiencing many political crises, terrorism and wars which make life very uncertain and risky for citizens not only in terms of lack of economic opportunities but also due to fears of persecution. Many of the people who seek refugee status in Europe perceive themselves as refugees, whereas they in the receiving countries are not regarded as refugees with a recognized right to protection as asylum seekers. In many instances this situation blurs the line between asylum seekers and illegal immigrants. As a consequence, asylum seekers encounter problems of recognition, visibility and proper protection. In particular, the current situation makes it difficult for children to be recognized in their own right. Children constitute an important part of asylum seekers whether they arrive with their families or alone. In 2003, there were more than 17 million refugees (43 per cent of refugees), asylum seekers and others who are of concern to the UNHCR. Of these millions of people, it is estimated that children under the age of five make up 11 per cent and 32 per cent are children aged six to seventeen.2 Many of these children have experienced war, violence, acts of cruelty and similar traumas. Others have been exposed indirectly through their parents‘ traumatizing experiences. Such experiences are today increasingly recognized as being a similar burden to a child as if they are assaulted themselves. The adults often have very big problems and the children run the risk of having their problems concealed. Registration data and statistics are generally not produced in a way that makes the exposed situation of children visible. The children‘s reasons for asylum in their own right are rarely investigated. The rights of asylum-seeking children are protected in international conventions and rules, like in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, The European