Trees Only Move in the Wind: A Study of Unaccompanied Afghan Children in Europe
Author(s): C. Mougne
Afghans constitute one of the largest groups of unaccompanied children who are currently making their way to Europe and who are in some but not all instances submitting applications for refugee status there. A major problem for UNHCR in its efforts to formulate a coherent and consistent approach to this movement has been a lack of information with regard to their profile. While some relevant studies have recently been conducted on this issue, the number of cases and countries covered has been limited. The current study attempts to address this gap. The study is based on 150 interviews with young Afghans, conducted in France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK between November 2009 and March 2010. Additional information on 38 young Afghans in Turkey and 10 in the UK was also included in the analysis. The interviews reveal that unaccompanied Afghan children who make the long trip to Europe are deeply and negatively affected by their experience. As well as the hardships and abuses of the journey, after arrival they are confronted with the prospect of forced return to Afghanistan, coupled with continuing pressure from family members to send remittances home, so that the debts incurred to pay for the journey can be paid off. Moreover, European countries have complicated the situation by in most cases failing to establish best interest determination procedures and by waiting until Afghan children who are not in need of protection have "aged-out" (i.e. turned 18 years of age) before return is considered as an option.