More criticism of x-ray checks on young refugees

Wednesday 31 August 2011

The Council of Europe's human rights commissioner has criticised the way the Netherlands uses x-rays to try to assess the age of young asylum seekers, Trouw reports on Wednesday.

The process is 'not sufficiently precise', exposes children to unnecessary radiation and is 'stressful and traumatic' for some, Thomas Hammarberg says in a statement on the organisation's website.

In particular, paediatricians across Europe 'state clearly that dental and skeleton maturity cannot be used in assessing the exact age of a child – all that can be achieved is an estimate with a margin of 2-3 years', Hammarberg points out.

Bone checks

The bone development checks are used on young asylum seekers who arrive in the Netherlands without papers if there is doubt about them being under 18. The tests began in 1999 and have been used on some 12,000 refugees so far, Trouw says.

Children's rights organisation Defence for Children and Dutch medical advice foundation SMAK have long campaigned against the use of x-rays in assessing age.

'Ít is becoming increasingly more difficult for the immigration services to admit the method is untrustworthy', SMAK spokeswoman Annemieke Keunen told the paper.

However, a spokesman for immigration minister Gerd Leers told the paper Leers does not agree with Hammarberg and that the procedure in the Netherlands is continually updated and improved in line with scientific developments.

© DutchNews.nl

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