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Germany: Young refugees forcibly x-rayed

01 September 1995

Young refugees in Bielefeld and Bremen have been forcibly x-rayed by immigration authorities to determine whether they might be lying about their age. The practice, which involves X-raying the carpal bone (a bone in the hand) has been described as illegal by the "Association of Democratic Doctors" (ADD), and in legal terms must be considered as assault. Both the ADD and the Hamburg Chamber of Physicians called on hospitals and doctors "not to participate in the establishment of the biological age of young refugees". Heiko Kauffmann, spokesperson for the organisation "Pro Asyl", called the practice "illegal and scandalous... unsuitable, scientifically indefensible as well as dangerous to health" and pointed to a resolution by the Congress of German Doctors from 19 June in Stuttgart which called for an immediate halt to the use of this method of determining peoples' ages. Immigration authorities responded by claiming that all such examinations were undertaken on a "voluntary" basis. This claim however has no basis in German law, which requires that parents or legal guardians give permission for such treatment for minors. All the young people involved in the cases of forcible X-raying have been aroung the age of 16. Sixteen is the age at which young refugees due for deportation can be transferred from hostal accomodation to detention centres. Refugees who have been refused asylum can also be deported unaccompanied, ie: without parents or guardians, after the age of 16. Some of the young refugees actually face criminal charges on the basis of the X-ray results. On 11 July a young refugee was charged with lying and fraud. He faces a prison sentence of up to five years, or at the very least, deportation. TAZ 12.8.95; Berlin Anti-racist information network, August update.