Unaccompanied minor refugees in Germany: What you need to know

Unaccompanied minors traveling to Europe for protection pose a significant challenge to the authorities. InfoMigrants takes a closer look at the protection mechanism and its shortcomings for underage migrants in Germany.

A person is registered as an "unaccompanied minor refugee" if he or she is under the age of 18 and has fled without his or her family. Sometimes minors become separated from other family members while traveling, or it could be that the minor decided to flee his or her country alone. In Germany and other European Union member states, there is a specific procedure for protection for those identified as unaccompanied minors.

What happens once someone is identified as an unaccompanied minor?

Children in Germany have a right to health and safety. The youth welfare office, the "Jugendamt," is responsible for ensuring this right for all children, including unaccompanied minor refugees. If someone is identified as an unaccompanied minor, the youth welfare office becomes responsible for him or her.

First, a caretaker is appointed, who begins by sorting out the immediate accommodation for the child. If the unaccompanied child has relatives in Germany, it might be possible for the minor to be housed with them. Otherwise, the child will be accommodated with a foster family or in an asylum home. This process is called "Inobhutnahme," which means "taking into care."

The youth office initiates a clearing procedure ("Clearingverfahren") which works differently in each of the 16 German states. The procedure usually starts with an initial overview, "Erstscreening", which includes a medical examination and some tests for age assessment. The methods that are used range from a simple examination to X-raying the wrist, jaw or collarbone.

Accomodation for unaccompanied minor refugees in Dresden, Germany

The youth welfare office also estimates whether the implementation of the subsequent distribution procedure might endanger the child's best interests in physical or psychological terms.

All this happens in the first fourteen days after an individual is recognized as a minor. After that, the child will be transferred to another state. During the clearing process, the Foreigners' Registration Office ("Ausländerbehörde") clarifies the residency status.

What are the next steps in the distribution?

Children and juveniles become the responsibility of the youth welfare officials to which they have been assigned. The next step is to apply for guardianship. Meanwhile, further medical tests are performed and other factors such as the need for education, need for language training and residency status are determined.

Appointing a guardian

As a next step, a guardian is appointed for the unaccompanied minor. The decision about who will assume guardianship is taken by the family court. Guardianship lasts until the person reaches the age of majority, according to laws in the minor's country of origin and not according to German law. It means that if the minor does not attain the age of majority under this law until after 18 (as is the case in Togo where the age of majority is reached at 21), the guardianship also does not end until this time.

The subsequent clearing procedure includes clarifying the residency status. This is the basis on which a decision is made about whether an asylum application will be lodged. If an application is found to be weak, the immigration authority may issue a temporary suspension of deportation ("Duldung"). If this is not possible, the authorities will discuss what other possibilities are available.

If an asylum application is to be lodged, the Federal Office is responsible for the implementation of the asylum procedure.

The asylum application

German laws are applied when determining the age of majority in the asylum application. This means that once a person has reached the age of 18, an asylum seeker must lodge his or her own asylum application. This is regardless of the laws in their country of origin. The guardian can continue to assist the asylum seeker in this case.

If the application is lodged by a guardian, a "certificate of appointment" ("Bestallungsurkunde") needs to be provided.

Two unaccompanied minors during their "Inobhutnahme"

The interview and the decision in the asylum procedure

Unaccompanied minors are regarded as vulnerable individuals. This ensures special guarantees for them in the asylum procedure. Their applications are evaluated by special commissioned officers, who are trained in taking a sensitive approach.

The interviews only take place with a guardian present. As well, an additional advisor can attend the interviews. The latter is permitted to make statements during the interview or address questions to the unaccompanied minor which are relevant to the asylum application.

Emphasis is also placed on determining whether there are indications of any child-specific grounds for fleeing. These may include genital mutilation, forced marriage, domestic violence, trafficking, or forced recruitment as a child soldier.

The decision is taken on the basis of the interview and the guardian is later notified of the decision.

Is the situation of unaccompanied children in Germany satisfactory?

The Program Manager at Save the Children in Germany, Desirée Weber, told InfoMigrants that the situation regarding unaccompanied children is not entirely satisfactory. "There are major protection gaps for this vulnerable group of children and numerous children's rights are violated," Weber said. She added that some children are never identified as unaccompanied minors and become victims of human trafficking, criminal groups or simply do not get the care they need. She believes that due to incorrect age determination, some of the children end up in large reception centers without any special protection.

Weber also said that her NGO is particularly concerned about the situation of family reunion in Germany. She also pointed out that it is a difficult to identify unaccompanied minors and there is no regulated procedure in place for the purpose. 

"Even a good system of identification cannot ensure that every child at risk could be identified," she added. Save the Children has also called for child-friendly and age-sensitive assessment tests to be conducted by trained staff, as the use of medical procedures can be very intrusive.

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Unaccompanied minor refugees in Germany: What you need to know

Unaccompanied minors traveling to Europe for protection pose a significant challenge to the authorities. InfoMigrants takes a closer look...

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Unicef urges UK government to speed up transfer of unaccompanied child refugees as Calais camp closes

UNICEF UK ha chiesto al governo del Regno Unito di permettere ai minori non accompagnati attualmente bloccati nella Jungle di Calais di potersi ricongiungere con i propri familiare o di poter entrare in Inghilterra in maniera legale. Inoltre, tutte le organizzazioni umanitarie operanti nel campo di Calais denunciano episodi di autolesionismo e depressione tra i bambini che aumentano con il prossimo smantellamento del sito. Abdul Afzali, che lavora per Refugee Youth Service e si prende cura dei minori non accompagnati all'interno del campo di Calais, ha dichiarato: "Alcuni si stanno bruciando con le sigarette, un braccio, poi l'altro. Altri mi hanno detto che vogliono saltare davanti a un camion e rinunciare. Purtroppo, la maggior parte hanno sviluppato grave depressione. "

Di seguito gli articoli tratti dall'Independent e dal Guardian

Child refugees at Calais plunged into despair by plan to close camp
Incidents of self-harm and depression among children in the Calais refugee camp are increasing as the mental health of unaccompanied minors deteriorates in advance of the site’s demolition. Charities, volunteers and aid agencies say they were witnessing psychological collapse among many of the site’s child refugees after President François Hollande confirmed last week that the camp would be shut down.
One senior official from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warned that some child refugees had threatened to harm themselves if the camp was destroyed. Aid workers also said other unaccompanied minors, many of whom are eligible to claim asylum in the UK, had talked about killing themselves, such was their despair over the camp’s future.
Abdul Afzali, who works for the charity Refugee Youth Service and looks after unaccompanied minors inside the Calais camp, said: “Some are burning themselves with cigarettes, one arm, then the other. Others have told me that they want to jump in front of a lorry and give up. Unfortunately, most have developed serious depression.”
There are at least 1,000 unaccompanied minors currently in the camp, and the British and French authorities have yet to develop a strategy to rehouse the vast majority of them after the site is destroyed later this year.
The approach of the Home Office is under increasing scrutiny. Despite a commitment in May to take thousands of child refugees from across Europe, it has admitted that not a single unaccompanied minor has been accepted. A group of Tory MPs is understood to have written to the prime minister, Theresa May, to register their concern.
Under a separate agreement designed to reunite child refugees with families living in the UK, only around 20 have been resettled since May and in these cases, charities say they have paid all the costs involved. The Home Office says it is committed to resettling “vulnerable children”.
Within the Calais camp itself, Liz Clegg, who runs the site’s unofficial women and children’s centre, said that from her observations, as many as 80% of the site’s unaccompanied minors exhibited mental health issues that would be flagged up as serious in an institution where normal child protection safeguards existed.
“They would be flagged up as ‘at risk’ – some would be placed on suicide watch. There is self-harming, repetitive behaviour; many of them are stuck in a loop. We have nine-year-olds who are barely hanging on,” said Clegg.
Grégoire Bonhomme of MSF, which has created a safe space for child refugees within the camp, said he too had heard of children threatening to hurt themselves when the camp was demolished. “Some said they will harm themselves because they will be dismayed at this situation. It is creating a lot of tension.”
However, Bonhomme also said that there was also a refusal among a cohort of child refugees to believe that the camp, which currently has a record population of more than 10,000, would be demolished. He said: “Many of them say: ‘It won’t happen, no one will arrest us, and if we want to go we’ll find a way [to the UK].’”Alexander Simmons, a volunteer for charity Care4Calais, confirmed it was monitoring “quite critical mental health issues” among a number of child refugees in the camp and that the longer they spent in the camp, the more vulnerable they became. He also lamented the fact that there was no record of the extent of the problem. The camp is not officially recognised by the authorities and no official mental health assessments have been conducted among its children.
Mary Jones, who runs Jungle Books for the camp’s child refugees, revealed that she had repeatedly seen new arrivals gradually go from initial optimism to a depressed state; some youngsters lay in bed for days. Simmons said that on Thursday an Afghan boy was taken from the camp to hospital after spending 48 hours lying in bed, unable to move.
On Saturday the charity Unicef became the latest organisation to criticise the Home Office over its approach to unaccompanied child refugees, demanding that the UK accelerate the transfer of vulnerable youngsters from Calais. Lily Caprani, Unicef UK’s deputy executive director, said it was pushing for the children in the camp to be placed in appropriate accommodation before any demolition began and for them to have access to care and legal support to process their asylum and family reunion claims. “The children in Calais need to know they will be safe before the bulldozers arrive,” said Caprani.
Charities estimate there are more than 400 unaccompanied children inside the camp who are eligible to come to Britain, but say the Home Office has not sufficiently tried to identify the exact number. More than four months after the UK government announced that it would accept child refugees from across Europe, the charities point out, no official process appears to have even been put in place to facilitate their transfer.
Josie Naughton, co-founder of the charity Help Refugees, said: “Currently no plan is in place as to how they will be protected and taken care of once the camp is demolished. We ask that the British and French authorities immediately put plans in place.”
Also on Saturday, French police fired teargas and water cannon at migrants and protesters who had gathered outside the camp in defiance of a ban, local authorities said. About 200 migrants and 50 activists assembled under a bridge to protest against living conditions. There were clashes as the police pushed the migrants back to the camp, and activists are reported to have thrown stones at the security forces.
Another 150 protesters who left Paris on Saturday on four coaches were blocked by police at a toll road about 30 miles (48 km) short of the port.
Teenage voices from Calais: ‘There is too much fighting’
Idrissa, 17, from Darfur, SudanIdrissa has been in the camp since February and is hoping to be reunited with his uncle in Birmingham. Since leaving Darfur last year, he has lost contact with his entire family and has no idea where they are, or even if they are alive: “I have tried calling, but I have no idea what has happened to them.” The teenager’s only ambition is to reach the UK. Waiting in the Calais camp has been a grim and depressing experience. “There is too much violence here. We feel afraid,” he says, gesturing to a group of unaccompanied youngsters nearby.
Yemani, 15, from Tsorona, EritreaYemani has been in the Calais camp for three months and is hoping to be reunited with his aunt, who lives in London. He is travelling alone and says that life inside the camp scares him: “There is too much fighting, people hitting each other. Bigger people than me hit me.” The teenager also says that the French police terrify him, pointing to a used teargas canister lying in the dirt outside a tent where some of the unaccompanied minors gather.
“They hit us, and fire at us,” he says, rubbing his eyes to mimic the pain.
Fadl, 17, from western SudanFadl arrived in the Calais camp four weeks ago, the end of a journey from close to the Darfur border via Libya, across the Mediterranean and through Italy. His aim is to reach London and find a job as a mechanic. He says that he is petrified of the camp, especially at night, and has sought the protection of Sudanese elders to keep him safe. “There are big problems here, people fighting, coming to the tents and scaring us,” he says. He thanks the charities for providing sustenance and says he is “extremely grateful” for their kindness.
Mubarek, 16, from EthiopiaA member of the persecuted Oromo people, Mubarek, who arrived in Calais three months ago, says his family are counting on him making it to the UK. Like many unaccompanied minors, he felt unsafe in the camp. “It is dangerous. Also, the police come in and scare us. If they try and shut the camp, they will be very bad,” he said. Mubarek raises his his hands and waves them frantically, recalling the terrors of his journey from northern Ethiopia: “I try not to think about it,” he says. The Guardian - Mark Townsend and agencies

Unicef urges UK government to speed up transfer of unaccompanied child refugees as Calais camp closes
Unicef has called on the UK government to allow unaccompanied child refugees currently stranded in the Calais migrant camp to come to Britain.
The organisation said it was concerned about the planned closure of the camp, known as the 'Jungle', saying it may lead to children disappearing before they can be processed.
Charities estimate there are around 400 unaccompanied children living there who are eligible to come to Britain.
Lily Caprani, the deputy executive director of Unicef UK, the UN body’s charitable arm in the country, told the BBC: "Last time part of the Jungle camp was demolished, hundreds of children went missing. We don't know what happened to them."
Despite this French President Francois Hollandevowed to have cleared the camp by the end of the year during a visit to the Jungle on Monday.All of the camp’s estimated 10,000 residents will be forced to move to reception centres across the country.
Mr Hollande is under intense pressure to mitigate the rising tide of anti-refugee feeling and Islamophobia ahead of the French presidential election next year.Far-right leader Marine Le Pen looks poised to at least make the run-off to become president and has vowed to stop France accepting anymore refugees.
The UK Government has also come under increasing pressure to take in the unaccompanied children.
On the first anniversary of the death of Aylan Kurdi, a three-year-old Syrian boy who was found dead on a Turkish beach, last month, migrant rights charity Citizens UK handed in a letter signed by several celebrities including Juliet Stevenson and Vanessa Redgrave calling on Home Secretary Amber Rudd to accept them.
Fewer than 20 children were granted asylum in the UK in the first three months of the year.Lord Alfred Dubs, the peer who helped force the Government to accept an amendment to the Immigration Act which requires the UK to accept lone minors, said “deeply saddened” the Government was still “dragging its feet”.
Lord Dubs, who was himself a child refugee who came to the UK during the Kindertransport in 1939, said: “Now that the new Government has had some weeks to settle in after the EU referendum vote there really is no excuse for any further delay. Theresa May and Amber Rudd should be taking immediate action.”
Unicef is concerned that the children may fall into the hands of traffickers who may exploit them.
In September, The Independent revealed the Home Office does not know where 360 of the vulnerable children who have already arrived in the UK are. Of these, 81 have been missing for more than five years.
Over the past five years, 9,287 “unaccompanied minor” asylum seekers have been arrived in the UK.
A spokesman for the Home Office told The Independent the Government remained committed to resettling “vulnerable children” but said the closure of the camp was “a matter for the French government”.
He said: “The UK Government has made crystal clear its commitment to resettle vulnerable children under the Immigration Act and ensure those with links to the UK are brought here using the Dublin Regulation.
“We will also continue to support the French Government as it provides alternative accommodation to migrants in the camps and returns those not in need of protection to their home countries. The Independent Caroline Mortimer

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Unicef urges UK government to speed up transfer of unaccompanied child refugees as Calais camp closes

UNICEF UK ha chiesto al governo del Regno Unito di permettere ai minori non accompagnati attualmente bloccati nella Jungle di Calais di po...

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Traffickers turn to teenagers to drive migrant boats across Mediterranean

People smugglers in Egypt and Libya are escaping justice by using children to ferry migrants to Europe, leaving the youngsters to face jail and huge fines

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Why would any parent send their kids on the deadly trip to cross the Mexico-US border? Here's why.

Crossing illegally from Central America through Mexico into the US is terribly dangerous, in many ways. Yet, more than 50,000 underage migrants have been caught trying to cross the US southern border in the last year.

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