Netherlands: Asylum seekers' age from x-ray

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Young asylum seekers will be subjected to x-rays in order to decide their age, according to plans announced by the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS). The aim is to use x-ray photographs of the collar bone to determine whether an asylum seeker is over 20 years of age. Similar schemes, using teeth, were stopped two years ago following ethical and scientific objections.

The INS claims that many asylum seekers lie about their age in order to profit from the improved conditions that are on offer to those under the age of 18. As most asylum seekers enter the Netherlands without identity papers it is impossible to accurately determine their age. The proposed test will in principle be voluntary, however no one who rejects the test will be entitled to special youth privileges.

The proposals have been denounced by a broad spectrum of opinion within the Netherlands. Lawyers have described the plans as unlawful because "there is a large amount of pressure owing to the sanctions that would then be applied", according to Professor H Roscam Abbing, a specialist in healthcare law. "Furthermore radiating the body contravenes laws that protect the integrity of the body", he added.

Doctors and anatomical experts have also rejected the new proposals as scientifically unsound. A van Es, ex-chair of the Johannes Wier Foundation for Human Rights and Healthcare, described the diagnostic method as "dubious" pointing out that: "different ethnic groups have different rates of growth..on top of this disease, malnutrition or hormones can significantly affect the results". G Maat, of the University of Leiden Anatomy Department, points out that "dentists and radiologists working for the INS have consistently tended to overestimate the age of asylum seekers."

Volkskrant 2.3.99.

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