Literature Review

The phenomenon of the migration of minors (children, young people and adolescents) who migrate alone, without their families and regardless of the established laws and administrative procedures, has gained intensity in recent decades, both in Europe and abroad (Chase, 2013, pp.864).

The European Union has not yet succeeded in passing a specific and mandatory norm for all the Member States that makes it possible to address this phenomenon globally, coherently and satisfactorily for the rights of the minor (Eide, and Hjern, 2013, pp.667). So far there are only well-intentioned legal instruments but without direct legal effectiveness. As it is observed, in little more than a decade that the societyestablishments have faced the question from the legal point of view, the few binding provisions for the member statesare part of normative instruments approved for foreigners in general, and are not aware of the specificities of the migratory situation of unaccompanied foreign minors or of the needs derived from their situation, particularly vulnerable, within the immigrant population (Majumder, O’Reilly, Karim, and Vostanis, 2015, pp.134). In addition, these are minimum standards that in many cases do not meet or comply with the universal basic principles of child protection, responding more to management logic of relocation movements.

Home Office development perceptions demonstrate that, in 2011, there were 19,804 refuge applications made and, of those, 1,277 were Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) (Bradby, Humphris, Newall, and Phillimore, 2015). Eighty-two per cent of UASC candidates were male and Afghanistan remained the nation of birthplace for the biggest figure of shelter for children, representing 30 per cent of UASC applications. The top five nationalities of unaccompanied children were Afghani, Iranian, Eritrean, Albanian and Vietnamese (Sirriyeh, 2013, pp.9).

In the event that the Home Office choose that an unaccompanied minor’s claim does not fulfil the criteria for guarantee under the 1951 Refugee Convention or Humanitarian Protection, the United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) has an obligation to allow a time of Discretionary Leave until the point that the minor turns seventeen and a half years old (Humphris, and Sigona, 2016). This is typically represented, if in case, it is considered that there are no ‘acceptable and safe meeting areas’ in the child’s view of their returning point. Once a UASC with Discretionary Leave achieves seventeen and a half, they are qualified to apply for an extension of leave to stay (Linton, Griffin, and Shapiro, 2017).

Since the start of 2010, social consultants supporting UASC have seen that there has been a huge change in the selections made by the Home Office in regards to extensions of leave to stay (Allsopp, Sigona, and Phillimore, 2014). This regularly results in numerous asylums looking for children being refused approval to remain in the UK after they achieve their eighteenth birthday celebration. Once a youngster with Discretionary Leave achieves seventeen and a half years old, the Home Office will advise them that they must return back to their country of origin, once they have reached a particular age (Snyder, 2016).

Previously, numerous children have been successful in applying for extensions of stay even after reaching the age of 18[1]. It would not be wrong to state that presently, the attention on the aspect of sending minors back to their country of origin once they have reached a particular age is highlighted because as Rigby, and Whyte (2013, pp.42) states that UKBA is focused on managing the migration intensity and on saving money of the care costs for children that are in high need of it.

Reason for unaccompanied minors entering the UK

Consistently, an obscure number of UASC enter the UK, as numbers are available for each individual that fulfils the refugee application. UASC are characterised as children younger than eighteen who land in the UK, insist on having asylum and who are without close grown-up relatives either going with them or effectively show in the UK whom they can join (Stretmo, 2014).

The Refugee Council carried out research to explore the influencing variables and reasons why asylum seekers go to the UK. It inspected the choices made by asylum seekers and inferred that, in the dominant part of cases, the reason they land in the UK, instead of other European nations, is frequently because they believe they might be able to live in UK for a longer period or even whole life (Vervliet, Rousseau, Broekaert, and Derluyn, 2015, pp.477). A report was carried out which comprised of a survey of the current situation and carried out semi-structured meetings which 43 individuals who were looking to be asylum seekers in the UK. From these 43 individuals, 10 were children who had entered the UK unaccompanied[2].

The most pervasive motivation behind why these asylum seekers had landed in the UK was on the grounds that the choice to bring them here had been made by others. Human traffickers assume a huge part in the association and usage of plans orchestrated to empower asylum seekers to wrongfully leave their nations of the source and travel crosswise over mainland to a position of wellbeing (Masocha, 2013, pp.1627). Contingent upon the professional and the cost paid, these human traffickers are only concerned with the travel issues and ensuring the asylum seeker reaches the destination, and not opting to enter the UK with the individual (Smith-Pastrana, 2016, p.251). Huge numbers of the UASC met just wound up mindful that they were going to the UK in the wake of leaving their nations of origin and a few children landed in the UK having no idea where they have landed.

The essential purpose behind UASC leaving their nations of inception and flying out to Western countries contrasts incredibly relying upon their race, nationality, religion, political belief or sexuality (Wilding, 2017, pp.288). Research recommends that, in the larger part of cases, UASC look for political reassurance as opposed to financial riches. Many have suffered or anticipate abuse because of their government or local social groups[3]. This can include physical discipline or dangers to their life because of different reasons, for example, having their religious practices limited, being named in criminal groups, being trafficked to some other country or even sold in the sex industry, and so on (Bhabha, 2014).

Allsopp, Chase, and Mitchell, (2014, pp.178) features how the groups of UASC seem to ‘volunteer’  their children in the care of other nations as they have an ulterior goal that the other nations would provide them with the life that they cannot provide themselves. Such encounters up to and including the trip itself make UASC helpless in particular ways while testing their flexibility and ability to survive. Accordingly, UASC require deliberately arranged norms of help with a specific end goal to assist them with overcoming huge calamity and disease[4].

Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children: numbers, trends and the asylum process

Following various years in which asylum applications by UASC diminished, there have been outstanding increments in applications in the years 2014 and 2015 as shown in Figure 1 (Guentner, Lukes, Stanton, Vollmer, and Wilding, 2016, pp.402).