ABSTRACT
As individuals below the age of 18, separated from their parents and primary caregivers, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children constitute a uniquely situated and vulnerable population in the UK. Under the tenets of international and domestic children's rights legislation, their claims for asylum should be considered in light of their dual positionality as both children and asylum seekers, and all immigration functions carried out in a manner commensurate with the realisation of their ‘best interests’. Yet, in the context of an increasingly hostile migration environment, the UK asylum process has become rooted in an institutional culture of overt disbelief and denial; one which actively seeks to reduce the numbers of individuals who receive recognised refugee status, and denies the legitimacy of children's claims for political and personal protection under domestic and international law. Through an exploration of empirical evidence on children's experiences of the asylum application process, as well as accounts from unaccompanied children themselves, this chapter considers the complexities and nuances of statutory discrimination of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in the UK, arguing that it is through the deliberately inflicted uncertainties of asylum reception conditions that the statutory discrimination of unaccompanied minors is made most perniciously evident.
