Age as a Barrier to Rights: Age Assessment of Unaccompanied Children Seeking Asylum in the UK

Unaccompanied children seeking international protection in the United Kingdom face
enormous challenges to their rights, particularly when they arrive at a port of entry without
the documentation necessary to prove their age. Age assessment processes are utilised when
there is doubt about the age of an unaccompanied child, usually just prior to the point of
adulthood. The outcome of an age assessment will determine whether the unaccompanied
child is able to access their rights and receive appropriate support, including education,
care, and accommodation appropriate for their age. In recent years, a ‘robust’ approach to
age assessment has been justified as necessary on the basis of safeguarding the welfare of
children in care and to prevent abuse of the asylum system. However, these justifications are
often over-emphasised at the expense of ensuring the rights of unaccompanied children. This
article focusses on the temporality of unaccompanied children’s rights in the context of the
UK’s age assessment procedures against the backdrop of recent and increasingly draconian
changes to immigration legislation which have further diminished procedural safeguards for
unaccompanied children in the UK. Ultimately, in this context, age acts as a barrier to rights
for unaccompanied children who seek asylum in the UK.