Telling the story: A psychological review on assessing adolescents’ asylum claims.

Abstract

Asylum seekers are people who leave their country because of fear of persecution or organized violence and seek sanctuary in another country. The United Nations (UN) states that to be eligible for state protection someone must have,a well-founded fear of being persecuted because of his or her race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion; and is unable or unwilling to avail him or herself of the protection of that country, or to return there, for fear of persecution.(United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], 1951) A refugee is thus recognized as eligible for state protection, if when considering all relevant facts, a receiving state judges that the person qualifies for protection (UNHCR, 1992). Asylum seekers are children or minors, as defined by Article 1 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as anyone below 18 years. This article addresses issues relating to unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC)-those who are unaccompanied by an adult. UASC are not subject to the same legal processes.UASC, like adult asylum seekers, often arrive in the resettlement country with little proof' or documentation and only have their account as a means of evidencing their claim to protection from further persecution. In the absence of hard through which to assess a claim, decision makers turn to more general indicators of the credibility of the applicants' claim. Credibility is the subjective judgment as to whether or not the source (i.e., the young person) is to be believed (Bruck, Ceci, & Hembrooke, 1998). For UASC, law and policy assert that their claims should be assessed cautiously with their age, maturity, and mental health in mind. Whilst such recommendations exist, there is little explanation on how this translates into the actual practice of assessing minors' claims. But how would a traumatized young person tell their story compared to someone who did not experience such trauma, but was sent away from home to avoid persecution or violence? Should we expect certain emotional responses from these young people? Despite the dearth of detail in asylum policy, the psychological literature can contribute to a better understanding of the issues concerning both the young asylum seeker and the decision maker.This article presents a review of psychological literature on adolescent development, autobiographical memory, and mental health and shows how they may affect a young person's account when seeking asylum. These are crucial areas of study as the way young asylum seekers speak about their experiences may influence whether the decision maker regards their account as credible, and thus whether they are more likely to be granted asylum or leave to remain. The article also presents research on judicial decision making and assumptions held about adolescents. In particular we consider how these affect the evidence a UASC presents and the way decision makers' assumptions and attitudes, rather than the evidence of the claim, might determine whether or not the young person's claim is believed. The review is based on consultation with experts in the field of UASC (including legal representatives, policymakers, psychologists, psychiatrists, and UNHCR employees), and review of the English language literature published in the past 25 years in the four main databases (PsychInfo, Medline, Embase, & JStor), then hand searching of relevant papers.Background to the UASC ExperienceThe numbers of unaccompanied minors currently seeking asylum across the world is increasing with reasons for leaving their home country commonly due to exposure to war, violence, sexual assault, or high levels of persecution (Thomas, Thomas, Nafees, & Bhugra, 2004). In addition, these young people have been separated from their caregivers either when leaving their home country or during their journey to seek refuge. It appears that the type of adverse events impacts psychopathology outcomes; exposure to violence and maltreatment increases vulnerability to posttraumatic stress disorder, and loss and ongoing stressors such as instability in living can lead to depression (Hodes, Jagdev, Chandra, & Cunniff, 2008). …