Research Goal

We aim at discovering how asylum procedures with children and young adults are actually conducted in daily practice and how young people who are subjected to asylum procedures experience the procedures and the rights accorded to them.

On the one hand we want to gain empirical insight in asylum procedures with children (‘s rights) and to better understand how social exclusion (or the risk of being excluded) influences participation and experiences. On the other hand, we aim at addressing methodological, ethical and theoretical challenges when young asylum seekers are being voiced. Finally, from a “procedural justice” perspective, empirical insights on procedures, rights and experiences of those subjected to procedures will turn out very relevant. Indeed, the question arises whether and how in asylum procedures – as is the case with criminal procedures – an effective participation of young asylum seekers will increase their experiences of “procedural justice”?

Research design

The empirical part of the project exist of two phases. First,  we want to gain insight into how children’s claims for international are being handled in daily practice. Therefore, important actors in the asylum procedure are being interviewed: protection officers, legal guardians and lawyers. Further, we aim at including a group of youngsters as advisors of our research process. Child advisory groups are being created, in which children and young people guide the research project, help discover important research questions and help us shape the (creative) research methods that will be used in the project. These advisory groups guide the second phase of the project where participatory projects will be established.