UKBA’s Code of Practice for keeping children safe from harm came into force last week. It covers all children with whom the UKBA comes into contact, including those seeking asylum.
A draft was issued for consultation in January last year and the Refugee Council made strong representations for its content to be improved. The final version reflects many of the important principles highlighted in our response, such as the need to work proactively to protect children and for UKBA officials to improve their communication with them.
Judith Dennis, Unaccompanied Children’s Policy Adviser for the Refugee Council said:
“This is a welcome development for the Home Office, and something we have been pressing for for years. It is a great tragedy that for so long, children seeking asylum in Britain have not had their interests as children put first. Hopefully, this code of practice will mean children’s needs are fully met and that they are treated as children first and foremost.
“We have concerns about gaps in the code of practice: firstly, children whose age is disputed are not mentioned. We believe this is the most serious threat to keeping children safe from harm in the immigration system at the moment, because UKBA treats many children as adults because they don’t believe their age. We urge the government to look again at this as a matter of urgency. Secondly, it does not change government policy of detaining children. This should never happen, under any circumstances. And thirdly, children who are removed from the UK to so-called ‘safe’ third countries are also left out of the code of practice – returning children to countries where there is not guarantee that they will be cared for appropriately has serious safety implications for the children who are removed.
“We welcome this new development however, and hope to continue to work with the Border Agency to ensure that the new code is adhered to as rigorously as possible and results in better treatment of children claiming asylum.”
