Sweden to go ahead with migrant age tests
The Local Sweden - [email protected]
Published: 18 Jun, 2016 CET.
Updated: Sat 18 Jun 2016 12:03 CET
Sweden is to carry out controversial age tests on as many as 18,000 unaccompanied migrant children, estimating that as many as 70 percent lie about their age.
“This is not just about asylum procedure, it’s about the safety of the accommodation,“ Sweden’s Justice and Migration minister Morgan Johansson told Swedish Radio. “Adults should live with adults and children should live with children, which is why this should be done as early as possible in the procedure.”
According to the Swedish Migration Agency, more than 18,000 of the young men and women might warrant medical age tests this year and next year.
Sweden's migration law gives strong incentives for asylum seekers aged 18 or over to claim to be minors, and the Agency believes there is reason to doubt the claims of as many as 70 percent of asylum applicants who say they are between the ages of 15 and 17.
The tests are controversial in Sweden, however, with doctors arguing that there is as yet no method of reliably determining a person’s age.
In April, the National Board of Health and Welfare judged that MRI scans of asylum seekers’ knees provided the most reliable currently available age tests.
At the end of last month, the government gave The National Board of Forensic Medicine responsibility for carrying out the new tests. It has now launched an inquiry into how best to carry them out, which is due to report in November.
Ann Lemne, project manager at the organisation, underlined the shortcomings of existing methods in a press release sent out in May.
“There is no method for medical age assessment can be safely determine an exact age,” she said. “With all methods, the result is produced as an age span.”
Comments
See Also
“This is not just about asylum procedure, it’s about the safety of the accommodation,“ Sweden’s Justice and Migration minister Morgan Johansson told Swedish Radio. “Adults should live with adults and children should live with children, which is why this should be done as early as possible in the procedure.”
According to the Swedish Migration Agency, more than 18,000 of the young men and women might warrant medical age tests this year and next year.
Sweden's migration law gives strong incentives for asylum seekers aged 18 or over to claim to be minors, and the Agency believes there is reason to doubt the claims of as many as 70 percent of asylum applicants who say they are between the ages of 15 and 17.
The tests are controversial in Sweden, however, with doctors arguing that there is as yet no method of reliably determining a person’s age.
In April, the National Board of Health and Welfare judged that MRI scans of asylum seekers’ knees provided the most reliable currently available age tests.
At the end of last month, the government gave The National Board of Forensic Medicine responsibility for carrying out the new tests. It has now launched an inquiry into how best to carry them out, which is due to report in November.
Ann Lemne, project manager at the organisation, underlined the shortcomings of existing methods in a press release sent out in May.
“There is no method for medical age assessment can be safely determine an exact age,” she said. “With all methods, the result is produced as an age span.”
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.