Finland’s Immigration Service says the number of children arriving in Finland as refugees dropped from 700 in 2008 down to 500 in 2009. The Refugee Unit of the Immigration Services said the flow of incoming minors slowed particularly towards the end of the year.
“At the beginning of the year it seemed that the arrivals would keep pace with the previous year, but that soon changed. Now it seems that the number of unaccompanied minors will settle at about 526,” declared Esko Repo, Head of the Refugee Unit.
Before the year 2008, the number of children seeking asylum alone averaged about 100 annually.
Fewer Minors due to Age Testing
In spite of the decline in incoming minors, their countries of origin have remained the same. Most adult and child refugees come from Iraq, Somalia and Afghanistan. Since the unstable conditions in those countries do not appear to have changed, authorities have assumed that stricter age testing has been responsible for the lower numbers of arrivals.
“It certainly has had an impact,” confirmed Repo.
The procedure has been in place for about one year. Arvo Mäntykenttä, Investigative Head of Helsinki’s Aliens Police 42 of the 63 persons tested (some 65 percent) have proven to be over the age of 18.
“It’s common for persons aged 19 to 20 years to pose as minors. Some are clearly older than that. In one case an individual posing as a 16 year old turned out to be 29 years old,” Mäntykenttä explained.
Age tests are carried out by the Forensic Centre with the help of tooth and wrist x-rays. A person’s age is determined on the basis of the wisdom teeth and the stage of development of the bones in the wrist.
Applicants who are proven to be adults are moved on from juvenile reception centres to regular reception centres, where their applications for refugee status are processed differently from those of minors. In general applications by minors are processed faster.
According to Repo posing as an unaccompanied minor may not have any negative repercussions. The presumption is that a persecuted individual can resort to any means possible to escape from threat.
“It’s not punishable, nor are there any consequences for using false documentation to escape to safety. But officials in the receiving country must be given the correct information. It very often happens that we continue on the basis of incorrect information. We have seen such cases,” Repo added.
