HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION FOR VULNERABLE ASYLUM APPLICANTS

Venetikidou Aikaterini 4 cerned. Unaccompanied or not, every child has the right to submit an independent application to be granted the refugee status. UAMmake part of the vulnerable refu- gee group as instructed by UNHCR 11 , thus, they shall not be refused entry upon their arrival in national territory and are entitled to certain guarantees. These instructions have been adopted by both European 12 and Portuguese 13 Legal Frameworks and in- corporated in the relevant legislation regarding asylum. 2.2. Studies on the Asylum Procedure for UAM in Portugal The existing literature in Portugal is quite limited as far as the implementation of the asylumprocesses for UAM is concerned. However, it is worthmentioning some of the findings of Portuguese researchers on the implications of certain asylum processes, such as the age assessment, the psychological health of the UAM as well as their in- tegration overall. To start with, Rosa’s study 14 presents the negative impact of fleeing on the unaccompanied minors’ psychological and emotional health, based on inter- views with social workers in Portugal and France. Rosa underlines that the time-con- suming procedures and their complexity sometimes can lead the young minors to depression or even having suicidal intentions. His research demonstrates that the UAM are being constantly transferred from one structure to another and are lost in frequent trips between the court and administrative services without immediate re- sults but are left with a loss of motivation to carry on. Moreover, Rosa discusses the fact that the scarcity in capacity of the reception centres is a big issue, stressing out the CACR ( Casa de Acolhimento para Crianças Refugiadas ) being the only reception centre especially designated for asylum seeking UAM. Texeira’s study 15 focuses on the question of the age assessment examinations and highlights the necessity from the reception countries to develop a concrete age de- termination system that respects the child and contributes to its best interests. More specifically, Texeira discusses the implications of the“ questionablemethods of age as- sessment ”applied and how these intrude the fundamental human rights of UAM. Tex- eira zooms in Portugal by stating that the methods applied for the determination of the age of the UAM usually include hand, wrist and denture radiography. He men- tions that in Portugal the age determination solely depends on the results of these 11. UNHCR. (2017). A guide to international refugee protection. 12. Articles 21 and 22 in Directive“Asylum Procedure”2013/32/EU. 13. Article 17-A(1) in AsylumAct 26/2014. 14. Rosa, V. (2015). Os menores estrangeiros isolados ou não acompanhados em França e Portugal: a "batata quente". Sociologia , 29, 171-198. 15. Teixeira, S. G. (2018). Aproteção dosmenores emcontexto de asilo: o caso dos exames de avaliação de idade. Faculdade de Direito da Universidade do Porto: Portugal. Retreived from https://reposito- rio-aberto.up.pt/bitstream/10216/117880/2/304368.pdf.