Experts warn over plans to age-check child asylum seekers with X-rays

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. In a report published on Tuesday, the Age Estimation Science Advisory Committee recommended existing checks – which rely on interviews with social workers – are still used, but could be “supported by biological age assessment”. It also warned the “use of biological assessments in addition to social worker interviews could increase distress”, before urging ministers to assess the impact carrying out such checks could have on lone migrant children. But the committee said asylum seekers should give “informed consent” to biological tests and face “no automatic assumptions or consequences” for refusing them, adding: “There may be many reasons why a UASC may choose not to give consent for biological age assessment that is not linked to concealment of chronological age.” Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, urged the Government not to “ignore” the committee’s findings, adding: “These children simply want to start rebuilding their lives after the traumatic experiences they went through. Using scientific methods to resolve age disputes will “bring a more consistent and robust approach to age assessments and help prevent asylum-seeking adults from claiming to be children, or children being wrongly treated as adults – in turn helping prevent safeguarding risks and stopping abuse of the system”, a department spokesman said.