RE-REPRESENTING AMBIGUOUS CHILDREN
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF UNACCOMPANIED MINORS IN POLICY,
MEDIA AND PRACTICE IN NORWAY AND SWEDEN DURING 2000 UNTIL
2012.
Author: Live Stretmo
Picture taken of graffiti art made by an Belgian graffiti artist at a transit facility for unaccompanied minors outside of
Bruxelles
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 1
CHAPTER 1. UNACCOMPANIED AND ASYLUM SEEKING CHILDREN IN
SWEDEN AND NORWAY (CA 15 SIDOR)
During the years between 2000 until 2010 stories featuring unaccompanied asylum
seeking minors have concurrently been highlighted in Norwegian and Swedish media.
Though the storyline and focuses have shifted a little during this ten years period, the
narrations made public have worked to raise public awareness. Claims have been made,
in for instance newspaper narratives as well as by claims makers (such as for instance
the Norwegian and Swedish Ombudsman for Children and the Save the Children’s
alliance, Ecpat1 and the Unicef) in order to ensure that the Norwegian and Swedish
authorities take care of unaccompanied minors according to their specific needs as
children separated from their next of kin and seeking asylum on their own.
These different claims made in the media have parallel also come to question the entire
organisational “mode of conduct” of the reception system and strong claims of child
neglect have been made in this regard. When a social problem is concurrently
highlighted it often becomes justified and legitimized to change a system and or calls for
such reformations are made accordingly.
During 2000 until 2010 the Swedish board of Migration (Migrationsverket) and the
Norwegian board of Immigration (Utlenningsdirektoratet/UDI) have come to receive a
seemingly increasing number of so called unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.
Their official responses have been two folded: On the one hand specific steps have been
made in order to ensure a decrease in the number of asylum applications from
unaccompanied minors (such as for instance the implementation of a biometrical age
testing system in the Norwegian context). On the other hand policy have been
articulated to safeguard the best interest of the asylum-seeking children that do arrive,
as well as dividing the control and regulative functions versus the care functions inbetween the Immigration and Migration boards and the National board of Health and
1
ECPAT is an NGO working to raise public awareness regarding the sexual abuse and exploitation of children
globally. The abbreviation stands for; End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for
Sexual Purposes. (See also www.ecpat.se)
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 2
Welfare (Socialstyrelsen in Sweden) and the Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth
and Family Affairs (Bufetat) and the municipal social services respectively.
The singling out of such specific functions and their underlying rationalities, along with
other important policy changes regarding unaccompanied asylum-seeking children,
make Norway and Sweden interesting cases to analyse. This course of action highlights
how the reception of unaccompanied minors (the “system” as such) become evaluated,
improved and reformed yet also how this process often come to enhance more
regulation and organization of the subject at hand (or unaccompanied minors). The
“solution” to one problem hence risks’ leading to new unanticipated and unpredicted
complications as the translation of national strategies into practice is not always
straightforward.
In this thesis my first aim is to analyse how unaccompanied minors become constructed
as a specific group of refugees in Norwegian and Swedish media and policy during 2000
until 2010. Central to this comparison is to deconstruct specific themes in regards to
how unaccompanied minors are conceptualized in official (policy) and public (medial)
narrations respectively and the specific actions and practice (responsibilization
strategies and changes in mode of conduct) that are made legitimate through such
conceptions. Secondly I also intend to analyse the reception of unaccompanied minors in
the context of the Gothenburg region Association of local authorities (GR)2 and how
unaccompanied minors themselves and the people involved in the reception of them
makes sense of their everyday life and the category of the unaccompanied minor.
Overall Questions set forth in this thesis:
 How are unaccompanied minors constructed and represented in policy (official
speech and intended practice), in the media discourse (newspaper narratives)
and in everyday life (in the case of the reception system in the GR)?
2
The Göteborg Region Association of Local Municipalities is a co-operative organisation uniting thirteen
municipalities in western Sweden. The member municipalities are Ale, Alingsås, Göteborg, Härryda,
Kungsbacka, Kungälv, Lerum, Lilla Edet, Mölndal, Partille, Stenungsund, Tjörn, and Öckerö. The association aims
to promote networks, co-operation and the exchange of ideas in-between the different municipalities.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 3
 What are considered as important (social) problems in relation to
unaccompanied minors?
 What actions are hence deemed as necessary?
Chapter specific Questions:
 How is age constructed in policy and in relation to other concepts such as
“migrants”, “adults”, “children”, “youth” and “family”? Which regulations are
considered required? (Chapter 4)
 How has stories of unaccompanied minors been represented in newspaper
narratives during 2000 until 2008? How has similar narratives been framed in
official policy? Which actions have been measured as crucial? (Chapter 5)
 How do unaccompanied minors and the people involved in the reception of them
in the GR relate themselves and their experiences to official and medial
representations? (Chapter 6)
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 4
CHAPTER 2. THEORETICAL (AND METHODOLOGICAL) POINTS OF
DEPARTURE (30 SIDOR)
In this chapter I will introduce a perspective where meaning is seen as constituted
within language and through processes of social interaction. According to such a stance
anything from policy papers, to media articles or the way we talk of our everyday life
experiences, are embedded with different codes of meaning and knowledge. How then
to go about in order to deconstruct such statements become of central concern to the
researcher. The discourse analysis offers an analytical and a methodological incidence to
explore and analyse both how language is used and how conceptions of the social world
become expressed contextually. This point of reference has enabled me to treat rather
different texts as if they had equivalent “weight” or legitimacy. The discourse analysis
has permitted me to conduct a study of rather different types of speech and texts: firstly
in regards to how two different nation states articulates their reception of
unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in official policy, secondly in how popular
medial images of such minors are represented in newspaper articles, as well as thirdly in
selected interview data from a case study of unaccompanied minors and the people
involved in the reception of them in the Göteborg Region Association of Local
Authorities (GR).
In connection to the understanding of how meaning and knowledge are constituted and
brought forward I will also apply a Governmentality framework that can enable me to
link specific national conceptualizations -whether they are intermediated by the media
or articulated as explicit modes of conduct (on the macro level) to the everyday life
experience of the people controlled or governed by these official conceptualizations (in
interview data with everyday people in the micro context). Even though a discourse
analysis allows me to treat the different texts equally it is also important to bear in mind
that there clearly exists a different precedence or “preferential right of interpretation”
between national policy and media narrations on the one hand and peoples everyday
conceptions on the other.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 5
Unaccompanied minors per see have also been mediated as a “social problem” to which
the Swedish and Norwegian government or relevant authorities have been prompted to
act. The construction of social problems as well as media’s role in bringing to light but
also to shape and fore-front specific issues as such is imperative to emphasize in this
chapter.
Finally in my rather eclectic theoretical passage I will also present a critical strategy for
my further deconstruction of official rhetoric, newspaper articles as well as interview
data. Through the “intersectional lens” I can link together how popular images of age,
gender, class, ethnicity and family intersects and analyse how they are working together
or varies in accordance to one another in order to allow a certain articulation or
representation of the unaccompanied minors as an particular subject of knowledge.
Relative to my case study of the reception of unaccompanied minors in the Göteborg
Region Association of Local Authorities (GR) it will also be important to see how people
in their narrations chooses to either distance or identify or even dis-associate
themselves in regards to such official images or representations.
2.1 LANGUAGE AND POWER – DISCOURSE, MEANING AND SOCIAL KNOWLEDGE
As a construct and as a specific scientific technique the “discourse analysis” can be used
to study different kinds of communication such as speech, text and social interaction at
large. The method is based on certain ontological and epistemological assumptions,
specific methodologies to attack the field of research, as well as special techniques for
language analysis. (See also Winther Jørgensen and Phillips, 2000:7-11) The “discourse
analysis”, as method and theory, is thus often claimed to contain a “full package” or a
specific dialectic between its philosophical premises and different ways of doing
research. The goal of such an examination is often to uncover and explore underlying
relations of power by critically deconstructing the (everyday) knowledge that we (often)
take for granted.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 6
In this context I will use a wide definition of discourse. A “discourse” is to be understood
as “logical chains of speech” that assigns different objects and things their meaning and
make them accessible to us (See Sahlin 1999, for a similar definition). Discourses,
according to this definition, refer not only to what is said in different context, but also to
underlying processes that make the spoken word possible (Foucault 1993). "Discourse"
as such is often defined as “talk” in general, but more specifically a discourse often
express a certain way of talking about reality or a specific issue. “The content of what we
say and the manner in which we say it” (see Sahlin 1999). According to such a
perception knowledge is produced through linguistic acts and the possible positions and
statements we refer to in order to take part in a discussion. Through language a
representation of “reality” is constructed. The discourse expresses what is visual or
accessible to us in a given historical period or context. It is important to highlight that
“words are not just words”, but conceptual constructs that give real consequences when
they are implemented in practice. When the authorities launch a new strategy towards a
given group, this is felt on (or in) the very “body” of the people –subjects- that this
practice and regulations are directed and addressed. Yet “meaning”, when understood as
a socially “bound” and constructed entity, becomes rather fluid, changeable and unfixed.
Given that the different positions within a knowledge system (for instance within a
Nation state such as Norway and Sweden or within a given scientific discipline or a
social institution such as the family) have not been assigned the same privilege to
legitimize and construct new meanings, the “production of meaning” is also seen as
analogous to processes of inclusion and exclusion. The construction of meaning and
knowledge holds evidence of the power relations that operates within any given society.
Knowledge is hence to be seen as founded on a discursive ground (Foucault 1993: 37)
and within our language. Different objects, subject or “things” in the social world
become accessible to us and are structured through the normative gaze of our different
concepts (Sahlin, 1999:88). Speech is hence to be understood as an act of meaning
creation. According to Thörn (2004) “there exists no difference between substance and
shape” (ibid: 31). In this context it is important to note that even though “objects” could
be assigned differently; there consists no a-priori or pre-discursive meaning lurking
“behind” the discursive wrapping (Ibid. See also Aasebø 2002, Lentz Taguchi 2004,
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 7
Matsson 2010 for similar lines of argumentation). Central to such an understanding is
also how any given subject is comprehended as born into a world of a pre-existing
language and that it is through this language that we (and others) make sense of our
selves.3
To summarise this stance in regards to a study of the concept of the “unaccompanied
minor” this is also to say that when the Norwegian and Swedish authorities talks of
unaccompanied minors/asylum-seeking children, the authorities parallel assign
meaning to this specific concept and hence also all the different subjects labelled by it.
Implicit in this concept are also the boundaries distinguishing the subjects allocated
within the group of unaccompanied minors from those who are not (such as for instance
accompanied refugee children or orphaned Swedish and Norwegian minor citizens). The
“discourse of unaccompanied minors” in sum expresses the sometimes rather different
perceptions and knowledge of unaccompanied minors that can simultaneously co-exists
in Norway and Sweden.
Foucault (1977:30ff, 61ff, 2002:35-44, 57ff, 75-82) studied how knowledge and meaning
changed historically but also how to go about to separate, or channel out, the underlying
power structures or principles that control what is articulated or not in a given context.
Such structures are attached to for example a certain discipline as well as a specific
historical epoch. Even though meaning is fluid and unfixed there is always a rather
restricted or limited repertoire of narrations in order to make sense of a given social
phenomenon (Börjesson och Palmblad 2007: 11). These “repertoires” of frames are
historically, culturally and contextually (genre) bound. Dichotomies of gender (see for
instance Butler, 1999:4) or between concepts such as parent and child (see Jenks xx) or
between citizens versus migrants are to be perceived as social constructions attached to
The theoretical point of reference presented here could also be seen as situated within and much
inspired by the post-structural lookout. Post-structuralism - within philosophy, sociology, psychology and
linguistics - represent different critical strategies within research that aims to deconstruct common
knowledge and to study how such understandings are constructed and produced (Aasebø, 2002:162).
Objects/subjects are understood as constituted through language. A post-structural theoretic such as
Butler (1999) opposes universalism and essentialism within traditional science. “Language”, “discourse”
and “deconstruction” becomes central elements of the post-structural analysis (See for instance Aasebø,
2002 and Lentz Taguchi 2004).
3
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 8
an explicit historical, spatial, and cultural points in time. Repertoires working on
unaccompanied minors are clearly connected to specific (Western? White?
Middleclass?) conceptions of age, gender, ethnicity and so forth. I will dwell some more
on this thoughts in regards to the intersectional account further on in this chapter.
There consists no “social world” prior to our discourses in the Foucauldian (1993)
perspective. Instead we act somewhat violent or suppressive when we assign “objects”
their specific meaning (Ibid: 36-38). Foucault (1993) talks of knowledge production but
also of the inherent consequences of such “truths”: when certain aspects of the social
world are made visual to us this very process concurrently also silences other possible
facets. Through our available discourses certain aspects are lighted out whilst parallel
others are darkened. The very making and production of knowledge is hence dependent
on a concept of power. A “power” as such that is relationally bound and constructive –as
the world become visual to us through our concepts of it, yet also limiting. Blended
within the specific discourses are strong pictures of dominance and subordination
(Lentz Taguchi 2004). These are presented in such a way that they become part of the
subject’s own internalisation and self-control. In such a perception power becomes
obstructive but parallel yet also productive.
According to this concept of knowledge and power there always exists incongruences,
ambivalences and conflicts within a discourse and hence also a variety of possible
meanings. Inherent within the language rests the power to arrange the social world and
label it. Discourses in the Foucaultian perception are related to the authority to define
and categorise (Thörn 2004: 33). This makes it interesting to dissect positions that have
been assigned the opportunity to identify, address and articulate the social world - i.e.
create and upheld meaning (See Foucault, 1993: 7-15).
Through the process of dichotomization, binary oppositions are constructed. “Binary
oppositions” are in this context to be comprehended as conceptual opponents that does
not exist in an equal relationship to the other (See for instance Bauman, 1991:9). These
word pairs are interdependent and the one cannot exist without the other. Their
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 9
connotations stretches far beyond the notions they are supposed to relate to and this
creates an inner hierarchical order between them; “traditional” as the opposite of
“modern”, “irrational” as the opposite of “rational”, “masculine” versus “feminine” and
“black” versus “white” are illustrative of how such distinctions work (See also Butler,
1999, Minh-ha 1999, Spivak 1999 and Bauman, 1991:53ff for similar line of
argumentation).
What comes to our mind is nothing but a truth that seems to bring richness,
productiveness and strength – subtle and treacherously universal. In contrast we stay
ignorant of the desire for veracity and ignorant of the unbelievable machinery of exclusion.
(Foucault, 1993: 15. Translation by the author) 4
Through processes of inclusion and exclusion a vague and fluid concept of normality is
brought forward. (Foucault 1973). Since normality as such is hard to fixate, the pointing
out of deviant behaviour or positions is rather essential. The inclusion of what is
contextually considered “normal” is hence legitimized and reproduced through the
continuant exclusion of all aspects associated or considered “abnormal” or “deviant” in
social practice. In the era of liquid modernity such distinctions are interdependent on
their relationship to other dichotomies such as “truth” and “veracity” versus “falseness”
(Foucault 1993:14f).
In modern refugee reception a distinction between the norm versus its exception has
been evident in how the migrant subject per see has been understood as a potentially
menacing a system of fixed borders. Citizens have often been constructed as subjects
belonging to the nation states making migrants problematical “out-of-place” beings to be
controlled and monitored (Malkki 1995). Interesting distinctions between truth and
false are also made visible whenever refugees claiming to be under-age are met with
4
The original text:
”Så framträder för vår blick inget annat än en sanning som tycks vara rikedom, fruktbarhet och kraft – mjuk och
försåtligt universell. Däremot förblir vi okunniga om viljan till sanning, okunniga om det oerhörda maskineri,
avsett att utestänga som den är. (Foucault, 1993: 15)
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 10
suspicion and disbelief by Migrations board officers. Everyday practice, such as giving
preference to biometrical age tests amid the life-narrative of single asylum-seekers,
points to how distinctions between truth and falseness and those assigned the privilege
of legitimate speak (and those who are not) are upheld by our formal institutions. This
can also be illustrated by the slowness of new knowledge construction within the
established sciences (“the slowness of discourse”, Foucault, 1993: 13) and the nonequivalent in the way different subjects are assigned the privilege of legitimate speech.
This is also evident in how for instance a panel of subjects labelled “experts” often are
given preference above those labelled “everyday people” when addressing a given social
phenomenon or between the Migrations board officer versus the asylum-seeker.
2. 2 GOVERNMENTALITY
Since processes of interaction and negotiation changes and shapes new meanings (See
also Lentz Taguchi), “politics” become a social practice not only reducible to the
parliamentary arena. Politics in a wide definition is in this perception the very
constituent around which social understandings are articulated (Thörn, 2004:19). All
knowledge – common sense perceptions, official rhetoric, science etc. - are hence
structured on a politic platform. Power relations within a given society will be
embedded in and expressed through such understandings. Instead of merely
questioning which political parties that exercise power in a given State, the “power
relations within the encounters that make up the everyday experience of individuals”
becomes just as important to analyse (Miller and Rose, 2008:199). With reference to the
discourse of the unaccompanied minor, there clearly exist different perspectives on such
a subject, expressed by different political parties, by NGOs, authorities and within the
popular media, but also in the speech of unaccompanied minors themselves or by the
people working with them in everyday life.
Scholars such as Miller and Rose (2008) have studied the relationship between the
(neoliberal) welfare state on the macro level and the individual subject or citizen (See
also Rose 1999/2008). Through the analysis of Governmentality as the conduct of
conduct and the different (power) devices that renders the intervention of the state or
an organisation into individual life and what knowledge that underpins such
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 11
intervention have been studied and addressed. To analyse what is said, thought and
done -the corner stone of the discourse analysis- is also to point out the sayable,
thinkable and doable (Miller and Rose 2008:3) in different context. Through critical
analyses much inspired by the work of Foucault studies within the field of
Governmentality have pursued the understanding of how states or (national) authorities
become intertwined with vocabularies that circumscribes what can or cannot be said in
a given period of time. This also points to Governing as a different power exercise in
comparison to classical or traditional forms of domination: it is not just simply to
dominate but to presuppose the freedom of the dominated and hence to work on the
subject in accordance (Rose 1999/2008:4f). This point to the very administration of the
self in the era of neo-liberalization and how individualism has opened up specific ways
of exercising power (Foucault 1977). Governmentality in such a perspective become
complex patterns of devices that render it possible to act on the actions of individuals
without telling people daily how to live their lives and what decisions to make. Still
“Governmentality refers to all endeavours that shape, guide (and) direct the conduct of
others” (Rose 1999:3). Concurrent practices of government are to be understood as
“attempts to shape conduct in specific ways in order to obtain or produce some effects
or to avert undesired effects” (Rose 1999/2008: 52). The study of Governmentality
hence also stresses how acts of governing “works” and seeks to deconstruct its
underlying practices and rationalities, whether they are expressed in policies directed at
for instance different child-rearing practices in the private households, in the context of
the school system or in the way a country or nation decides to articulate its reception of
refugees and asylum-seekers.
2.2.1 GOVERNING THE ASYLUM -SEEKER
Watters (2007) argues that the conditions under which asylum-seekers are controlled
produces rather circumscribed contexts or spaces where social “rights” such as health
and social care may be only fleetingly available. According to him a Governmentality
perspective might at first glance hence seem of rather limited value as the European
governing of asylum-seekers much implies a sustained monitoring and control. Shifting
legal and political contexts have constructed various exception “spaces” in which
asylum-seekers or migrants are placed. The ministering of asylum-seekers still relates to
what in a Foucauldian understanding would be referred to as “apparatuses of security”
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 12
and the very control mechanisms associated to them (Watters 2007: 414) hence
transforming the asylum reception-system into a governable space.
Rose (2000: 144) writes that the modern art of government “govern[s] by making
people free, yet inextricably linking them to the norms, techniques and values of civility”.
However, as Dean (2007) notes, the external conduction of people’s thinking and
behaviour is not necessarily liberal at all in cases where people do not behave in the
ways that are expected and required. Control and discipline over the marginalised people
–such as asylum-seekers or newly arrived and or irregular migrants- and those
considered as so called “at-risk groups” –for instance unaccompanied minors or
vulnerable children- have increased in all societies, also in those societies claiming to be
the most liberal. Liberal anti-authoritarian governance can be seen as paralleled by a
sense of “liberal authoritarianism” (Ibid: 108–130). If people cannot see what is in their
best interests or refuses to act in accordance with the given rules, they risk being rather
harshly governed for their own freedom or for their own good. Watters (2007) for
instance highlights the rather widespread use of Draconian laws amongst European
countries (the use of detention and the withdrawal of economic contributions being only
two examples) when it come to the administering of refused asylum-seekers who
decline returning to their country of origin.
Freedom becomes synonymous with the obligation to intrinsically do the right thing or
to make what is considered as the constructive and rightful choices. This especially
becomes interesting when looking at the reception and or integration of refugees in
western societies and how European states pursue the stimulation of good flows (such
as capital, goods, services and the bodies of potential workers/consumers) whilst
parallel also highly regulating the “bad flows” such as for instance subjects targeted as
potential burdens on the host society; irregular migrants, asylum-seekers and so forth.
Watters evokes the concept of the “moral economy” in order to understand how such
discrepancy has come into play in regards to the governing of asylum-seekers or why
asylum-seekers or refuges are treated as exceptions in the European context.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 13
Historically the division of welfare division were directed those groups targeted as
“undeserved” versus the “deserved”. (Utveckla!)
2.2.2. GOVERNING AMBIVALENCE WITHIN LIQUID MODERNITY
The blurry distinctions between the good and the bad “flows” or between the deserved
versus undeserved also confronts European states with a sense of incongruity or
uncertainty. According to Bauman (1991) the area of liquid modernity has forced the
European and or Western societies to face up to a state of constant ambivalence. The
quests for enlightenment prior to our post-industrial era brought about a need and
desire to structure and classify the social world. As an allegory of the garden – i.e. “the
gardening state” - the nation was comprehended as a machinery or “garden” where
“nature” was cultured and civilized. Within this system the upholding of order became
important (Bauman, 1991: 28ff-369ff). As an allegory of the gardener the Nation state
categorised its subject according to taxonomy dividing them in in- or out-groups.
The creation of order is constructed on the basis of complementary categories or
dichotomies (Bauman 1991: 5. See also page xx). Through the gaze of such binary
oppositions the world became divided in groups of friends or foes (Bauman, 1991: 55).
As a hierarchical system there consisted/ts no equality between the “in-group of
friends” and the “out-group” of enemies (Ibid: 9). But within the age of transition
between the demands of “modern time”, where the citizens are to be individually
providing and “hard working” producers and the post-industrial or even “post-modern”5
urge for the citizens to be individually free and flexible consumers, ambivalence and
insecurity arises (See Bauman 2002:175-178). The social order of the state is constantly
threatened by those subjects who are not able to participate “in the society” as
individuals (or constitutes what the Governmentality framework would label as bad
flows). The inadequate consumers, such as the poor, the homeless or for instance
5
Postmodernism in Bauman’s (1991) terminology is the point in time defined by full pluralism and
emancipation from the urge to overcome ambivalence (Ibid: 98). The end of time?
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 14
“irregular migrants” or “rejected asylum-seekers” become potential “weeds” in the
structured garden of consumers. These out-groups, though entirely classifiable within
the dichotomy of the friend versus enemy, hence constitute a computer errors or flaws
in the State machinery. As strangers they disturb the balance by being physically to
“close” (they are here and amongst us and we pity them), but yet also distant and
secluded and different (are they really legitimate refugees? See also Bauman 1991: 60
for similar reasoning regarding different out-groups such as the homeless, the workingpoor and the so called “underclass” etc.). Strangers are in this pretence a “double
exposure” (See Thörn, 2004: 249ff) and an ambivalent being neither completely good
nor bad, neither friend nor foe.
The stranger is for this reason the bane of modernity. He may well serve as the
archetypical example (…) of Mary Douglas the slimy –an entity ineradicably ambivalent,
sitting astride an embattled barricade, blurring a boundary line vital to the construction of
a particular social order or a particular life world. (…) He stands for the treacherousness of
friends, for the cunning disguise of enemies, for fallibility of order, vulnerability of the
inside. (Bauman 1991: 61).
As a source of irritation within the structured Nation, “failed asylum-seekers”,
“economic migrants” and or “irregulars” are perceived as threatening to the modern
society. According to Watters (2007) asylum-seekers per see become constructed as
ambiguous subjects in order for the State to overcome the state of insecurity that their
very presence arises but also to legitimize the restrictive measures taken against them.
Because of their position as undecidables the State is in constant need to try to
restructure and secure itself from the danger of these strangers. The strangers become
the smutch of our time (See also Thörn, 2004:187 for similar reasoning in regards to
Swedish representations of homelessness). Bauman (1991) links our perception of
“asylum-seekers” and other outcast groups, to the articulation of the “Jews” in the Nazidiscourse. The “final solution” became in this perspective a way of the German society to
“clean up” and put an end to the problem of Semites. In this perspective it is interesting
to highlight what Derleuyn and Broekaert (2005) and Watters (2007) sees as strategies
of the different European states in order to avoid receiving asylum claims and hence also
asylum-seekers: For instance when detecting newly arrived migrants the Belgian and
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 15
French police reveals very little –if none- information regarding exactly where to apply
for asylum or how to get there (See also Derleuyn and Broekaert; 2005 and Fassin 2001
and 2005). The Spanish and British machinery to detect or expel migrants trying to
cross their borders include the use of x-rays in order to detect people hidden in lorry
trucks, to age asses asylum-seekers, it includes putting up racers sharp fences in order
to “protect” border lands, fining lorry companies when and if migrants are detected in
their cargo, it includes putting people in detention, deporting them etc. (See Watters
2007). Concordantly Western industrialized countries also do not accept visas from
people originating from some of the most conflict-ridden areas and regions of the world
(Neumeyer 2005). One can speculate whether “the final solution” to the “problem” of
asylum-seekers has become to avoid having them here in the first place?
Fassin (2005) points to examples of how ambivalence also can be inherently expressed:
The French Red Cross built a provisional tent camp close to Sangatte in order to shelter
and cater the many migrants that’s sleeps rough close to Calais (whilst awaiting their
journey towards the white cliffs of Dover and the promised land of England). In French
media the representation of this “camp” soon became two-folded: articulated as a
potential menace both because the camp was seen as a) causing a humanitarian
catastrophe as well as b) the fact that the “camp” per see could be seen as attracting
hoards of new migrants (a “pull-factor” for more migration). The scapegoating of the
work of the Red Cross in order to ease an acute situation also points to a “double-bind”
in the public conception of migrant care: “the circumstances of migrants and refugees
gives rise to an imperative to act, but this action (risks being) presented as an
exacerbation of a perceived problem giving rise to (more) pressures to curtail it”
(Watters 2007: 405). The ambivalence that the presence of stranger awakens, risks
becoming bedded in in the very reception of the same group, potentially also
legitimizing even tougher measures.
This points to other important ambivalences in-between the State and the strangers. As
“irregulars” migrant visa-overstayers or rejected asylum-seekers are often perceived as
excluded from society or as outcast group. There is an ambiguity between the fact that
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 16
“migrants” as such are clearly visible in society and the fact that we cannot judge their
legal status by the mere sight of them (See also Squire 2009).6
2.2.2.3 Governing the European Welfare state
In order to construct specific social phenomenon as social problems, strategies to wake
opinion and hence get groups of interest involved in the construction of a specific
articulation or perception, becomes important. (Lindgren, 1993:210)
The development of (new) meanings, or ways to articulate i.e. social issues constitute
that not everyone has the same authority to subdue new meaning, to shape and
structure what we see as truths (Foucault, 1977: 138ff, 167ff, 177ff). Governmentality is
improved and embedded within expert knowledge. The “fight” for political influence
could easily be understood analogue to the processes of symbolic struggle. Here the fight
is to “win” the right to shape and sustain influence over the hegemonic and official
principles and the outcome of such a competition inspires the division of welfare in a
given society. Politics are to be comprehended as strategies intended to legitimate
certain interests, moral belief systems and perceptions of social organization.
Such knowledge reflects divergent social understandings or discourses. Within official
conceptualization, political or moral discourses come to present themselves in such a
way that they seem obvious to us (Thörn, 2004: 36). This also points to a perception of
meaning construction in relation to the hierarchical system of positions in the welfare
society. Structures of inequality are embedded within the “obvious knowledge” in such a
way that they appear to be off common interest (See Ibid).
Within the European context, “symbolic power struggles” have underlined the
emergence of specific systems of welfare: During the twentieth century extensive
collective bargaining between different groups of interest – i.e. labour movements,
agrarian parties, white collars and the (Catholic) churches – has shaped the approaches
6
In this pretence the visualization of the “asylum-seekers” illustrates the power of stereotypes. The discourse
of “asylum” has in a common sense understanding been interrelated to other concepts, such as the discourse
of trafficking, smuggling and a state of irregularity. In this theoretical chapter the meaning of “asylum-seeking
subjects”, often relate to this common sense understanding.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 17
to public welfare in European nations rather differently (See for instance EspingAndersen, 1990:56-78). The emergence of national social systems could hence be said to
have been dependent on how groups of interest have accessed the legitimating force of
the symbolic power. This has also paved the way for rather distinct moral formulations.
Three broadly different strategies or ways of addressing social issues distinguishes how
Western capitalist democracies have come to view the relationship between the subject
– the citizen - and the state (Esping-Andersen 1990 and 2000). These welfare strategies
(or regimes7) can be said to underline how the states have come to articulate social
issues and how ideas about the ideal social order have become embedded in policies.
Through the gaze of distinct political or philosophical lookouts, the states have
developed their specific policies concerning phenomena such as “unaccompanied
minors”, “child care” and the ideal way to deal with and comprehend such issues.8
Through such processes –governing- the welfare state has become the constructor of
social categorisations, a structure of dissimilarity, an inclusive but yet also an excluding
mechanism (See also Foucault xx).
7 The three regimes contrasting histories of coalition formation has made them come to depend differently on
the role of the state versus the market or the family sphere.
The regimes in Esping-Andersen’s (1990)
terminology are divided in: 1. The Liberal regimes; the nexus of welfare is linked to the market forces and the
inner dynamics of “laissez faire”. 2. The Socio-democratic cluster, where the state, through extensive tax
programmes, a large public sector and the belief in general welfare distribution, has become the central
contributor of social service. 3. The Conservative model, where feudal or etatist paternalism and a strong
(Catholic) church have favoured a system of social rights conditioned upon moral, loyalties, convention and
preservation of the (traditional) family unit. The family sphere is therefore to be considered the locus of all social
services and to be kept undisturbed by the state. As a system of distinction and stratification the state views its
citizens and its role towards them differently (Esping-Andersen, 1990:23-26, See also O’Connor, 1996)
8
This is for instance illustrated by how the focus on the family as primary welfare distributor, in the
conservative model, also is underlined by a specific moral understanding of the ideal family constitution: The
male breadwinner model. Because of this the development of extensive childcare is rather rudimentary, so the
possibility for a dual breadwinning family to have children and still work becomes problematic (O’Connor,
1996).
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 18
Governing does not just act on a pre-existing thought world with its natural divisions. To
govern is to cut experience in certain ways, to bring new facets and forces, new intensities
and relations into being. This is partly a matter of time (time as self-control) It is also a
matter of space, of the making of governable spaces (Rose 1999/2008: 31)
Governmentality studies aim at removing the “taken-for-granted” character of how
things are done. Such analyses hence render practices of government problematic and
show that things might be done differently from what they are (Dean 1999: 38). Michel
Foucault’s concept of Governmentality is linked to the (European) state’s capacity to
‘conduct the conduct’ of the population through various rationalities and technologies
that extends beyond the state. Governmentality hence reflects what we think a wellgoverned society should be administered and overseen (Rose 1999/2008). According to
Foucault (1993) it is impossible to distinguish between policy-making and power and
knowledge. The subject of analysis becomes to see how “reason” operates in governing.
Governmentality is hence conceived as transmitted to a population through a variety of
means;
laws,
policies,
tactics,
“codes
of
conduct”.
According
to
Foucault,
Governmentality denotes “the ensemble formed by the institutions, procedures,
analyses and reflections, the calculations and tactics that allow the exercise of this very
specific albeit complex form of power, which has as its target a population; as its
principal form of knowledge, political economy and as its essential technical means,
apparatuses of security” (Ppykkönen, 2012:17).
A organisations mode of conduct can also be brought into questioning: One example of
such is what happened with the Norwegian (UDI) and Swedish (Migrationsverket)
Board of migration during the years between 2000 until 2007 when the responsibility
for the daily care –the care rationality- for unaccompanied minors were separated out
from the control and regulative –control rationality- tasks performed by the two boards.
When “problems” and complication are highlighted it becomes more legitimized to
change a system. A new political reform program is formulated (as in the Norwegian and
Swedish cases.) The striving for better or more rational divisions of labour –strategies of
sensibilization- is also core part of Governmentality.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 19
Programmes of conduct are all the attempts to regulate, reform, organize and improve
what occurs within regimes of practice in the name of a specific set of ends articulated with
different degrees of explicitness and cogency (Rose 1999/2008: 110).
But the translation into practice is often not so straightforward. The solution to one
problem can lead to new unanticipated and unpredicted complications. The
Governmentality “look-out” hence allows us as researcher to link the macro –for
instance expressed in national programs of action or in popular images presented by the
media- to the self and everyday life experiences (See also Nordic Journal of Migration
Research 2012).
2.3 THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS
2.3.1 MEDIAS ROLE IN MEDIATING SOCIAL PROBLEMS
Gamson and Modigliani (1989) argue that media discourse could be understood as
important formation ground(s) for public opinion. Not necessarily predicting policy
outcomes, but rather to be seen as a cultural system or forum for public opinion, to be
counted for in its own right. According to Best (2008) the typical social problems
process begins with claims making that precedes involvement by the media, much policy
construction, lobbying etc. might also take place in levels of society and situations that
are be blocked or banned from public view. Best (ibid) underlines the need to be
cautious when assigning media a total authority and power over public debate. In this
perspective media discourse are to be seen as “a set of interpretative packages that give
meaning to an issue” (Gamson and Modigliani 1989: 3). Media become an important
“agenda setter” as it is through reading or hearing about social phenomenon –i.e. newsthat the general public gets information on a specific topic: Through coverage in the
daily media claims making, often addressed by interest groups or experts hoping that
their topic will be highlighted on the news agenda, become visual to a larger audience
and important policy makers. Media directs our gaze by highlighting certain aspects
above others: we are hence free to interpret, act and react (or encode and decode, See
Hall 1977) according to our differences but as an audience “we” are often reduced to
“eat” or pick from the menu served us by the media (Brune 2008).
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 20
Medial visualisation is also a vital part of the legitimisation of a “social issue” as a
possible “social problem” (Lindgren, 1993: 42). But the way a specific social problem is
constructed and brought forward is also a process moulded in the media (See Gamson
and Modigliani, 1989: 7-9). According to Nord and Strömbäck (2005) for instance a
“crisis” as a social construction is highlighted and broadcasted through the media(s)
with a given and specific dramaturgy; where different, yet specific, parts of the account
are interplayed in-between a panel of experts, witnesses, authorities thought to be
responsible and the general public. A “political scandal” is typically often presented as a
call for action where focus is to demand liability from the authorities in question (Nord
and Strömbäck, 2005: 14f). Typically journalists also tend to favour certain
commentators above others and in an eager to represent contrasting stances and to
“balance” their reports; they tend to reduce controversy to two competing positions
(Gamson and Modigliani, 1989: 8 and Best 2008: 129ff).9
The media presents a specific issue as an “organized set of ideas” or as a package: “A
package” consists of coherent views on the specific social problem: a specific “frame” or
root cause(s), how the problem is best dealt with, a call for action and so forth (Gamson
and Modigliani 1989: 3f and Best 2008: 142-149). These calls for actions or “claims”
often come packaged or framed in a “landmark narrative form” (Best 1990) or as
formula narratives (Loseke 2001), where striking and dominant features are painted and
carved out.
 Claim: “ask for”, “receive”, “obtain”, “collect”, “accusation”, “declaration”,
“petition”
By drawing on popular symbols or larger cultural themes –such as myths, folktales etc. the “claims-package” comes to resonance cultural references of more general character
and hence seem more appealing to the general public (See Best 1990, Gamson and
9
This “balance norm” leads to rather non-controversial debates between well-established parties: for instance
Republicans versus Democrats (See Gamson and Modigliani, 1989: 8) or between representatives from the
Swedish Socialdemocraterna and Moderaterna or their Norwegian counterparts Arbeiderpartiet and Høyre.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 21
Modigliani, 1989 and also Lindgren 1993 for similar discussion). According to Lindgren
(1993) the public arenas –such as the media- endorse dramatically packaged social
problems and the more striking the issue at hand is presented the more publicity it will
get (Ibid: 50). In order for a package to remain workable –or “successful”- over time it
hence needs to evolve and progress, include new elements as part of its core (formula)
narrative or storyline. The development of a specific social problem is hence to be seen
as a “value added process” (Gamson and Modigliani, 1989:5). Such packaging within the
media narratives also risk conveying and reproducing stereotype representations of
groups or subjects (See also Brune 2008 and Elmeroth 2008).
These changes and re-conceptualizations are also products of advocates or claimants claims makers such as NGOs or lobby groups- working to keep the issue on the public
agenda. They become important sponsors in the framing or articulation of the social
problem at hand (Gamson and Modigliani, 1989: 7, Löfstrand (2005: 37-42). 10
When it comes to bringing to light issues such as unaccompanied minors Norwegian and
Swedish newspapers (as well as other media) have played an important role in
articulating calls for action in regards to this specific group. The content of the media
representation as such is hence important to critically dissect.
2. 4 INTERSECTIONALITY
By using intersectionality as a specific angle of incidence the researcher can study how
different structures of power interconnect. Intersectionality hence becomes the study of
how complex and intertwined categories and structures of power work and operates on
10
The narrative of “unaccompanied asylum seeking children who goes missing” that was fore-fronted in
the Norwegian debate, leading to the Egertorget memorial 2008, was clearly presented as a dramatically
staged claims package. Media had visualised parallel instances of “vanishing children” in other European
countries, such as in the Swedish, Danish and British media during the time period of 2000 until midst of
2008, though the landmark or formula narratives of “missing unaccompanied children” had changed and
varied in-between Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Britain. During 2000 until 2010 the media had turned
focus to new and more striking angles and explanations in order to keep the news “new”, catchy and
interesting. The shift of attention to (and off) narratives of “vanishing refugee children” may also reflect
particular incidences in time where the concern for “missing asylum-seeking children” has been more
strongly expressed in the public debate or put on the political agenda (See also chapter 4).
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 22
and between subjects. Gender, class and ethnicity hence “operates in-between and
through one another” which means that they are dependent yet also interdependent
categories that give different meanings when they intersect. (Mattson, 2010, Hammarén
2008 and Elmeroth 2012)
The intersectional angle of incidence questions how inequality is constructed between
and within different groups and subjects. According to de los Reyes (2001) and Mattson
(2010) feminist research or research on ethnicity has tended to either highlight migrant
working class men or white middleclass women’s experiences, hence ignoring the
practices and experiences of black or migrated women of different backgrounds (see
also Skeggs xx, Amos and Parmar xx, Minh ha 1999, Spivak 1999 and Lenz Taguchi
2004).
“Society” is a socially constructed entity and the “reality” we see tends to become what
we expect of it (i.e. the so called “Thomas theorem” or self-fulfilling prophecies). We
tend to perceive only what we expect of our social world and we tend to explain “things”
by relating them to our pre-existing knowledge. Blended within our pre-existing
knowledge are also stereotypical representations. The act of “stereotyping” means to
make a few often rather striking characteristics of individuals or groups the general
explanation or interpretation of that very individual or group. Stereotyping results in
groups or individuals becoming reduced to just this single-sided property or
characteristics. According to Elmeroth (2012) it is also important to relate stereotypes,
categorizations and dichotomies and how they work to aspects of power. Experts
assume precedence in ordering reality into specific categories (i.e. the taxonomies that
Bauman speaks of) as people or subjects have been assign different possibilities to
define themselves (Skeggs 1999). When notions of gender, class, ethnicity, sexuality and
age are interwoven in popular narratives, stereotypical ideas of ethnic belonging,
gender, sexuality and age are often reproduced. We hence risks duplicating simplistic
notions of for instance how girls versus boys act and essentially “are”, of young children
and youngsters versus adults and ideas of migrants versus Norwegian and Swedish
citizens (See also Mattson 2010:42).
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 23
Our identity depends on the fact that we constantly reflect ourselves in others and
understands ourselves as different from them. According to Lacan relating to something
or to someone different is important part of our identity construction: Just as important
as knowing who we are, becomes the act of distancing us from what we aren’t (Matsson
2010:41). This often conceals the fact that we “are” is not not given, but rather flexible
and fluid. The subject as such is a changeable and context-dependent being. Discourse as
such is accordingly a regime of truths that assigns meaning in compelling yet often very
predetermined ways (Mattson 2010:29). Things could possibly be done differently, but
we are inclined to think “inside the box” and act programmatically.
Important part of an intersectional analysis is to deconstruct stereotypes, taken for
granted knowledge, but also to try envision what is considered the normal and or
normative (Mattson 2010: 92). The normalized is usually unproblematic, made invisible
and is hence quite difficult either reflect on or to highlight. It becomes imperative to
deconstruct what normality means and what expressions or facets that are normalized.
For instance: the normalization of “white skin” has made “black skin” visible; the black
subject is always forced to relate his/her skin, the colour or shade of it to a hierarchy of
different skin colours. As “whiteness” has become obvious it needs not be defined
“whites” contrarily do not even have words to describe their own skin colour(s).
(Eriksson, Erickson Batz and Thörn 1999). The elusiveness of the middle-class position
is another example, where the working class, the working poor and or “under class” are
made problematical.
According to los Reyes and Mulinari (2005) gender, class and ethnicity are important
dimensions to highlight in an intersectional analysis as they are “associated to persistent
forms of inequality” (De los Reyes och Mulinari 2005:40). Gender, class and ethnicity are
non-changing and non-transient, but rather fixed categories central to the very
organization of society, to structural exploitation and repression and evident in how
material and symbolic resources become divided in-between groups on the individual,
institutional as well as the structural level (Ibid: 40, see also Fraser 1998 and Matsson
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 24
2010:94). Though the individual might climb the society ladder, class positions,
divisions and the hierarchy as such, remains.
Class positions are directly linked to the different distribution of material resources in a
social space but this inequality is also embodied and transmitted through cultural
practices (se Bourdieu 2000 and Skeggs 1999). Like class, gender and ethnicity are also
directly linked to the economic system; Gender is related to the division between the
private and public spheres and to a cultural and symbolic dimension where femininity is
contingently reproduced as subordinate to masculinity. The meaning of ethnicity is
ambiguous as it cuts through the labor market, but just like gender it is associated to the
division of privileges (positions of superiority versus subordination).
According to de Los Reyes and Mulinari (2005) and Matsson (2010:94) sexuality,
disability and age are important parts of the intersectional analysis though not equally
central to the way society is organized. De Los Reyes and Mulinari (2005) argue that the
repression and injustice on the basis of sexuality cannot simultaneous, to how gender,
class and ethnicity operate, be linked to economic structures. Sexuality must be
understood in relation to a cultural and symbolic level, where individuals are evenly
distributed across and within social classes. Wasshede (2010:29) contrarily opposes
such a view of a holy trinity of gender, class and ethnicity by showing how the
dimension of sexuality also becomes a highly material issue, which cannot be merely
reduced to symbolic and cultural inequalities. Instead, according to Wasshede (Ibid), the
regulation of sexuality is so closely intertwined with and associated to reproduction and
the regulation of the family that the issue of sexual orientation should be considered as
part of the socio-economic field (See also Butler 1998 for similar lines of thought
considering sexualities).
In my opinion this is also very much the case with reference to the issue of age: the
difference between the adult subject and the child is also clearly linked to symbolic and
cultural ideas but also to the regulation of the private (home -family) versus the public
sphere (labor market). Divisions separating adults from elderly people and children from
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 25
youngsters are central to the organization of society and to a concept of rights versus
duties hence also upheld and justified within laws and in policy. According to Andersson
(2008) prejudice and oppression with reference to age constitutes forms of
discrimination that are rarely considered offensive by the general public. The division
between adults and children is one that we very often take for granted and one that even
seem very “natural to us” and even uncontested. Still the way we conceptualize age give
very different and very real consequences in practice for the subject either labeled adult
versus child. For instance when we look at the asylum space, chronological age as such
might determine whether or not you will able to stay or not in the country in which you
apply for asylum.
2.4.1 THE CONSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN AND CHILDHOOD
One of the more central angles of incidence this thesis is based upon is the assumption
that conceptions such as “childhood” and or “adulthood” are to be seen as socially
constructed entities. Childhood as such marks a specific space of time that separates the
child subject from the adult and the.
Childhood does not exist in a finite and identifiable form (James et al. 1998: 27)
As stated earlier in this chapter our understandings are clearly related to and framed by
context, time and space. It is of importance to talk about different childhoods (Jenks
1990) as the concept of children and childhoods are to be understood as negotiable,
situational and relative concepts. Negotiable and situational as the meaning of being a
child and (having a) childhood(s) cannot be made understandable without an analysis of
the spatial or historical context in which children live. Relative as the meaning of “being
a child” connects to other concepts such as gender, ethnicity, sexuality, age and disability
that intersects and creates differences in-between groups of children. Notions of
children/childhood(s) only also become meaningful in relation to other concepts such as
adult/adulthood and parent/parenthood. These word pairs (binary oppositions) point
to the important power dimension working in-between “the parent”/”adult” subject and
the “child” subject. Though we very often assume parent’s power and supremacy over
(power-less) children, this is not to be seen as an absolute difference, instead the
relationship is also negotiable, unfixed and changing as the child transgress from total
dependency (infancy) into a more active and autonomous being (teenager/young adult).
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 26
In practice such an perception of “childhood(s)” has also come to correspond to a
transition and shift in the way (Western) societies as well as for instance the field of
Child Sociology views children; from a more traditional focus where children have been
seen as incomplete, incompetent and passive objects to a perception where they instead
more and more are highlighted as active and competent agents (See also James et al.
1998; Aries 1973; Dencik and Schultz Jörgensen 1999 and Wells 2009 for similar lines of
argumentation).
Meyer (2007) argues that though a view of children as individual rights bearers have
emerged, children are still most often understood as “innocent vulnerables” in need of
adults doing things to and for them (Ibid). “Childhood” is often constructed as a “right”
that children should have. Understandings of children versus childhood have become
entwined and are often in practice nearly synonymous concepts (see also Gullestad xx
for similar lines of argumentation), indicating that elements conceived as disruptive to
children’s wellbeing endangers their essence and hence marks the very end to their
childhood.
2.5 AN ECLECTIC THEORETICAL MODEL FOR THE ANALYSIS OF UNACCOMPANIED MINORS IN TEXT
AND PRACTICE -SUMMARIZING
In this chapter I have presented some important theoretical points of departure and it is
now time to summarize some of them in regards to an analysis of unaccompanied
minors in speech and text.
One of the main assumptions this thesis is based upon is that knowledge and meaning
become produced, constructed and constituted through “speach-acts” or language.
Language hence constructs images of reality and constitutes objects (or subjects) of
knowledge. There always consists a dialectical relationship between our social reality
and discourse. Different statements and or positions we refer to in order to participate
in the discussion are historically and contextually variable and dependent. “A discourse”
may also contain rather opposing positions and this is why a specific debate is entitled a
discourse.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 27
Discourses relate to their social context and the social world becomes visualized
through them. As discourse parallel also limits what we can see or understand in a
different historical epoch or context they also connect to a specific articulation of power
that links power to the production of knowledge. This further points to how power
works relationally, because not all subjects have been given the same possibility to
shape and structure meaning. Such divisions of power are for instance accelerated
whenever a Migration Board officer questions specific parts of an unaccompanied
minors narrative during the asylum interview. The unaccompanied minor does not have
the same preferential right to bring the Migration Board officers conduct into
questioning, he/she is to try to answer questions, tell a coherent story, to remember and
retell details correctly. (Questioning the aim of the asylum interview or the conduct of
the officer might even be considered as a “problem of cooperation” that might even have
negative consequences).
Power relations within a given society are embedded in knowledge. By looking at
processes of Governing, the process of meaning production also links to how the neoliberal states frame specific social problems in order to transform them into governable
spaces. Governmentalism may be defined as states possibility to act on or to govern
people without telling them how to live their lives. The anti-authoritarian governance
are consequently paralleled by a sense of “liberal authoritarianism”: If people cannot see
what is in their best interests they risk being rather harshly governed for their own
freedom or for their own good. This is very much the case when it comes to subjects
framed as so-called “failed asylum-seekers”/”bogus asylum-seekers” etc. These subjects
are often constructed as ambivalent existences within the post-industrial society hence
legitimizing that the states take further restrictive measures against them.
Such processes points to the importance of analysing how different social phenomena
are framed as specific social problems hence calling for appropriate action. Media
(discourse) plays an important role as formation ground for public opinion. To
understand how a certain social problem such as “unaccompanied minors” become
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 28
articulated or framed in a specific context it is thus important to study the content of
medias articulation as well as the national (official) responses formulated in policy.
The articulation of a social problem is also done with reference to other interrelated
concepts. Through the intersectional lens it also become important to deconstruct how
different structures of power intersects. In order to fully grasp the meaning of the
unaccompanied minor it is also vital to understand how notions of age, class, gender,
ethnicity, sexuality and disability interconnect, create distinction in-between children
and works to frame the unaccompanied minor as a specific subject of knowledge.
CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS (20 SIDOR)
The writing of a methodological chapter is often a conduct done retrospectively. When
the researcher looks backs over her/his shoulder everything seems to fit well together:
Every choice made en-route from the very first point of field entry through the entire
process of data gathering and analysis is well argued for and always seemingly the ones
intended in advance. In my point of view and experience such a research process
narration is also very much a construction made with hindsight.
For instance when I first started up on my PhD project during the autumn of 2005 my
preliminary idea was to look at “trafficking” in a European comparative perspective. As a
topic much debated amongst NGOs such as IOM, ILO, UNHCR etc. and European women’s
rights organizations or feminist groups stemming from a wide range of political
parties/orientations and by different EU bodies working to “fight” trafficking in humans,
it seemed as a good point of reference in order to analyse how different meanings are
brought about, negotiated or re-negotiated in-between different nations working to coordinate policy and practice. As an (gendered and “aged”) migration issue “trafficking”
was during this time very much also a so called “white spot” much ignored by
academically conducted research. Since then many interesting studies has been
conducted on trafficking from different scholars (Aradau 2008, O'Connell Davidson
2005 etc.).
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 29
The end of 2005 (the starting point of my doctoral/PhD studies) was parallel also a time
when a media, quick and eager to connect such instances to the field of trafficking,
concurrently highlighted narratives of unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors missing
from asylum-reception centres in Sweden. A common speculation was that the entire
Swedish asylum system was under attack from cruel and wicked traffickers utilizing it in
order to bring unguarded children to and through Sweden.
The associations made between the missing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and
trafficking also served as a starting point in order to address the importance of more
child friendly policies. The speculations concerning unaccompanied minors as potential
victims of trafficking made me want to understand whether or not this was a specifically
Swedish media narration or if similar speculations were fore-fronted in similar ways in
other countries and what claims for action that was made (if made at all) in regards to
such matters.
Later on I hence conducted a rather extensive newspaper analysis (see chapter xxx for
an description of how I vent about when doing this) that revealed how rather similar
instances involving missing unaccompanied children was reported on in Norway,
Denmark as well as in the UK and that, though such instances sometimes were framed a
bit different (and not necessarily as examples children being trafficked), it soon became
an popular point of entrance in order to highlight unaccompanied minors and their
specific needs on a political agenda in Norway, the UK and Denmark (ref).
Norway and Sweden struck me as the two countries in the sample addressing the issue
of missing minors in quite a similar fashion: the narratives of children vanishing from
official contact, was made much more explicit than in the UK and Denmark respectively
and did function as an entrance door in order for many different claimants to make
pretty strong calls for action regarding the daily care of unaccompanied minors.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 30
Within the context of Swedish and Norwegian newspaper narratives as mirroring
common public perceptions or Swedish and Norwegian “common sense” beliefs (Se for
instance Gamsci and Modigliani 1989, Brune 2008, Van Djik xx for similar perception of
popular media’s role in constructing public agenda) it became really interesting to
critically deconstruct how such claims was answered or received –if at all– within the
field of Norwegian and Swedish national policy or how the reception of unaccompanied
minors evolved during the years between 2000 until 2010 in the two countries.
Even though my point of entrance to the field of unaccompanied children and
youngsters had been the missing children focus, what soon became clear to me was that
the years between 2000 until 2010 could be said to constitute important and rather
formative years in regards to the development of explicit national strategies or action
towards unaccompanied minors in both Sweden and Norway. I then decided to broaden
my research focus beyond the scope of the missing children and much more inductively
focus on the official articulation of a reception system aimed at unaccompanied minors. I
became eager to analyse how the national responses came forth, how the phenomenon
of unaccompanied minors were framed and what kind of reception or action that was
hence deemed as legitimate. Based on the extensive study of Swedish and Norwegian
newspaper narratives of “unaccompanied asylum-seeking children that go missing" and
the call for action made by the media, it became interesting to study how policy
development came forth during the 2000 to 2010 in the two countries.
During the spring of 2010 I was also asked to write an application for a research project
together with the Research and Development department at the Göteborg Region
Association of local municipalities (Forskning och utveckling i Väst/GR) and a two-year
project was launched on the 1/1-2011.11 This project, aiming to analyse the municipal
reception of unaccompanied minors, offered me admission to the sample of rather
unique interview data that Charlotte (my co-worker) and I had conducted with people
11
The European Refugee Fund (ERF) funded the project labelled “Unaccompanied minors in the Götenborg
region Association of Local Municipalities - support and everyday life”. Gryning Vård Ab (Sweden's largest
company within Homes for Care and Housing/”HVB-hem”) was project partner.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 31
involved in the daily care of unaccompanied minors as well as some interviews with
unaccompanied minors them-selves living in the Gothenburg region. The interviews are
interesting complements to the official or medial articulation of “unaccompanied
minors” as it is in the micro context or in the everyday life activities of people such
framings have real consequences. The local reception of unaccompanied minors in the
Gothenburg region is an interesting case to analyse as it can offer some new insights to
the construction of unaccompanied minors on a national or medial level and to the
influence, meanings and impact such official articulations give or have in peoples
everyday life.
In this chapter one of my aims is to motivate why I have chosen to select the empirical
material that I have analysed and how I vent about to collect it. Firstly it will hence be
necessary to discuss the process of data gathering and my criteria’s of selection. The fact
that material such as newspaper articles, national policy documents and interviews are
clearly different data sources is something that I will also discuss further. Another issue
at stake in this chapter is how I vent about when I did the analysis in practice. Secondly I
will hence give a thorough description of my methodological tool: the discourse analysis
whilst focusing on the more technical and concrete parts of such a conduct or how I
went about when I piloted one. Discussions regarding the validity of my study and
ethical consideration or dilemmas that research on vulnerable groups challenges will in
conclusion hence also be critically explored and evaluated in this chapter.
3.1 WHY ANALYSING SWEDISH AND NORWEGIAN DISCOURSE?
As I have stated in the previous chapter our system of social knowledge is to be
perceived as discursively constructed, social knowledge –whether be it ideas about the
difference between adults and children or inherent ideas about gender, age or ethnic
belonging– is presented to us as rather familiar and regular believes. This makes is
difficult to properly dissect their inherent meaning(s) and to critically look at the
implication they give (Se also Matson 2010). Such taken for granted norms, values or
“look –outs” are often made visible to us in contexts of social change (Hellum 2002). In
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 32
order to study social transformation the researcher can choose to analyse how a specific
phenomenon progresses over time. Within the classical work of Foucault (1973, 1977,
1993, 2002) this method has become synonymous with a kind of genealogical
exploration (See Foucault, 1977. See also Bergström and Boréus, 2000: 238-242). In for
instance the Histoire de la sexualité (2002) Foucault dissects the relationship between
the power of knowledge and the way society talks of sexuality in an historical
perspective.
Instead of analysing how meaning changes historically one could also look at how
meaning are upheld in-between different context at one specific point in time. In a
context of a Europe striving for deeper policy coordination among various countries I
will argue that such processes constructs interesting backdrops or particularly fruitful
situations to study national articulations or reactions to a variety of social issues. In the
area of liquid modernity different societies are continually forced to negotiate, assess
and re-evaluate the legitimacy of their own official conceptualizations. This makes the
arena of harmonizing politics a good point of reference in order to try to understand
social phenomenon in a comparative perspective.
Since I wanted to conduct an analysis of the way Norway and Sweden understands and
developed their reception of unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors I decided to limit
my analysis to the years between 2000 until 2010. This ten years period is chosen much
in relation to the process of wider EU coordination in the field of Asylum migration.
During the first ten years of the new millennium efforts have been made for a deeper
coordination and harmonisation in the field of migration and asylum in-between the EU
members in practice. In regards to this process Sweden and Norway are interesting and
“critical cases” to take a further look at as they have chosen to relate themselves to the
EU in quite distinguished ways; Sweden decided to become a member of the European
Union and hence open its borders to the free flows of capital, goods, services and people
associated with the construction of the inner market, whilst Norway decided not to do
so. Yet as members of the Schengen agreement and by ratifying the Dublin treaty, both
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 33
Norway and Sweden are obliged to take joint steps in order to harmonise their national
strategies, border controls and policies in regards to third-country citizens/nationals.
Family oriented policies and children’s rights are issues considered as forefront and
central to the way the Social democratic model of welfare distribution is and has been
articulated. Sweden is often described as “a vanguard of modernism and progress and a
social, political, and economical role model for other countries” (Larsson 2008, Larsson,
Letell and Thörn forthcoming; 6). This also correspond to a popular national selfnarration where both Sweden as well as Norway tends to recognize themselves in a
quite undisputed and parallel often totally unquestioned fashion as the world’s best
countries to live in (See also Gullestad 1997:22).12
Sweden and Norway are clearly distinguishable as examples of what Esping-Andersen
amongst others considers as the traditionally “social democratic” regime clusters
(Esping-Andersen 1990). From a more child-oriented point of view possible differences
in-between them also surfaces: Norway has for instance chosen to make the Convention
of the Rights of the Child (CRC) a part of Norwegian law, whilst Sweden has decided not
to do so. As argued by many different scholars and researcher within the field of
migration studies (See for instance Andersson 2010, Stretmo 2010, Malmsten 2012,
Eide 2010 and Watters 2008): restrictive schemes towards asylum migration or the
migration of third nationals can easily come on colliding course with the best interest of
any given child. The Norwegian and Swedish “balance act” in-between rather
incommensurable stands make them interesting and surely critical cases to dissect
further in regards to their national/official articulation of unaccompanied minors, how
to deal with them and important issues in relation to the reception of this group.
3.2 CRITERIONS OF SELECTION AND HOW I WENT ABOUT WHEN I COLLECTED MY DATA
12
Not to argue whether Norway and Sweden actually might or might not be “good countries” to live in, but
rather to question the sometimes explicit and always implicit assumption that they are. As an “exileNorwegian”, brought up in a country so eager to narrate its national selves as the “number one country in the
world”, and to then come to Sweden to find that it really is Sweden that is essentially the best, has really
helped to visualise how this underlining self-imaging operates in multi levels of Swedish and Norwegian society,
legitimating the system as such.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 34
Foremost I will discuss how I elected – criterions of selections - the different newspaper
articles, policy documents and interviews that I have analysed, how I went about to
collect them – the search, collection and selection process.
3.2.1 NEWSPAPERS ARTICLES
“(P)ublic discourse” as “a set of discourses that interact in different ways” (Gamson,
1989:2) are carried out in many and rather diverse medial forums. Even though daily
newspapers have lost a lot of their readers during the last ten years period (See for
instance Larsson xx, Best 2008: 132ff) Scandinavian countries (in comparison to other
European or western countries) have a high percentage of people who still purchase and
read them on a daily basis (ibid). However, many newspapers have also been made
accessible in web-based versions, more recently also as mobile apps, and have hence
become part of the new and expanding market for claims making: the internet.
Newspapers, whether they are consumed in “old style” paper format at the coffee table,
red on an Ipad or mobile phone or on the computer screen, may still function as an
important agenda setter in society. In the web-based format, the national daily
newspaper has also become globally accessible.
In order to deconstruct how the issue of “missing unaccompanied children” has been
made comprehensible in the media discourse in a comparative perspective, I hence
rather early in my project made the decision to narrow my medial focus to only include
newspapers. Due to the Internet revolution newspapers have been made available and
easily accessible from online archives. Studying newspaper articles would also make it
easier for me to obtain and collect data retrospectively (See also Larsson, 2001: 228f for
similar lines of argumentation).
Central to the analysis of media narratives was to discover a broad selection of articles
that included stories of missing asylum-seeking children. I decided to choose articles
from the biggest national newspapers according to the number of daily-circulated issues
(7 days a week distribution). From the Swedish context my collection of articles was
hence retrieved from Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter, Expressen and Göteborgs Posten
that where the four largest newspapers according to daily-circulation during 2008 when
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 35
I sampled my articles.13 In the Norwegian context I decided to examine articles from
Verdens Gang, Aftenposten morning and evening (“Aften”) editions and Dagbladet as
these were considered as the top three Norwegian newspapers with a national range at
the time. (In reality the Norwegian sample consists of four newspapers as Aftonbladet
morning and evening editions are two separate papers, the former in a wide classical
format, whilst the latter more tabloidised) 14 I decided firstly to search the newspapers
own internet-archives, but as such archives were often of quite varying quality and
sometimes had a rather restricted admission to them, I secondly also decided to search
for articles through other online press-archives (such as Mediearkivet and Presstext.15
See http://www.ub.gu.se/sok/dagstidningar/). I further decided to narrow my search to
articles circulated between 00.01.01 until 08.08.01.
Due to the expansion of internet-services during the last couple of years, and the way
the different newspapers had decided to distribute their articles freely in different
online archives, I came up with a sample of more articles from the period of 2004 until
2008 than from the beginning of 2000 until 2003. The sample consists also of more
articles originating from the Swedish newspapers (due to Mediearkivet and Retriever
providing me with some extra Swedish articles recourses) than I have from Norwegian
newspapers (See appendix for an overview of the article sample). Search criteria was
initially “children vanishing/missing” and “asylum”, “trafficking and child/minor”,
“smuggling and child/minor” etc. It soon came quite apparent to me that during 2000
until 2008 newspaper narratives on “asylum-seeking minors” in most cases contained
storylines of missing children, so I did also broad and more general searches on articles
containing words such as: “asylum-seeking children”, “unaccompanied minor”,
“unaccompanied and asylum” and so forth. As my study and my knowledge of my field
13
According to Tidningsstatistik AB (2007) Aftonbladet had 388 500 circulated daily editions in
Sweden, the DN/Dagens Nyheter had 339 700 editions, the Expressen (Including GT and Kvällsposten)
had 303100 and the GP/Göteborgs Posten had a daily circulation of 245 000 editions, making it the fourth
most read Swedish paper. (http://www.ts.se/public/PDF/Upplagestatistik/dags_08_22feb.pdf)
14 According to the Norwegian Media Authority (2006) the VG/Verdens Gang had a circulation of 315 549
net editions, the Aftenposten morning publications came in 248 503 net editions, the evening publication
in 137 141net editions and the Dagbladet in 146 512 net editions (http://medieforvaltningno.inforce.dk/sw4066.asp ).
15 Mediearkivet is a Swedish article resource, that also contains some Norwegian newspapers in its
article sample (Aftenposten and Verdens Gang). Presstext, on the other hand, has a selection of Swedish
articles only, with a focus on editorials and debate articles.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 36
transgressed I was able to refine my search to specific events, names and even time
periods and dates (precise and more exact key words) where narratives on “vanishing
children” were present in the media. The singling out of such discursive moments has
also been part of my undertaking. In this analysis I have used all articles I could find that
in one way or another mention or relates to an incidence of “asylum-seeking or
unaccompanied children” that vent “missing” (“spårsløst forsvunnet”/“spårlöst borta”)
or had gone awol (“avvikit”) from public care”, after entering a new country and
claiming asylum there. The spectre of articles in my selection consists of a few debate
articles, some editorials, but mostly of news related material retrieved from the “news
section” of the papers.16
3.2.2 OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS (POLICY)
My initial narrow focus on missing children proved to be a somewhat too constricted
search criterion in relation to policy. When it came to select official documents, reports,
national reports, plans of action, directives and guide-lines I decided to get as wide a
range as possible of documents that said something about more general practice
regarding unaccompanied and asylum-seeking youngsters and children. Whereas the
missing-children was medias preferential angle of incidence when I gathered my data
the official documents had a wider lookout on issues associated to unaccompanied
minors.
The sample of what I have labelled “policy” in my selection constitutes a broad selection
of rather diverse kinds of documents: for instance the “national report” sets forth as its
goal to investigate or gather more information –knowledge- on a specific topic, a “plan
for action” on the contrarily are to be understood as a more detailed scheme or a specific
method with well formulated objectives for attaining a goal (See for instance the
Swedish Migration board, The National Board of Health and Welfare/Socialstyrelsen and
the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions/SKL and their joint national
call for action regards the reception of unaccompanied minors 2006/2007/2008). Such
16
In the Norwegian online archives I have done searches on words such as: asyl and barn
/ungdommer/asylbarn , asylbarn and sporløst /forsvinner . Trafficking/smuggling and asylbarn/asyl ,
kineser /Kina and asyl /forsvinner, “Vårliskandalen”, “mottak for enslige asylsøkende barn” etc. In the
Swedish context I did similar searches on words such as: asyl and underårig /barn /ensamkommande ,
and asyl and avviker /försvinner /spårlöst , but also on
“Carlslund” , “avviker från förläggning ”, trafficking /smuggling and barn /ungdommar etc.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 37
action plans are often formulated in the aftermath of the national report or when the
government has put forth new laws and regulations. Action plans often points towards
new and more intentional, rational or necessary conduct. Other policy data in my sample
are clearly of an “internal character”. Intended as informative circulars, expressing the
authorities definite position on a specific issue and hence instructing its workers how to
best collaborate accordingly to these leading principles (Se for instance the different
circulars from the UDI in Norway).
One can argue whether policy documents represent the “real” effort by a given country
or institution on a specific topic. Instead they could be comprehended as merely being
aspirational. Still “policy”, in the wide definition that I have chosen to use, comprises an
important authoritative tone of voice.
The difference between the various documents (reports made by different institutions,
national reports, circulars etc.) is more an expression of shape rather than substance, as
they overlap and resemble each other: Reports, circulars, plans of action and so forth
exposes the official solution to a problem, how to performing tasks or conduct according
to general guiding principles etc., it speaks of intentions and objectives that have real
consequences when brought into action.
In this context it is also important to bring to mind that the aim in this study is not to
deconstruct the “accuracy” of certain topics in relation to others. Instead the focus shall
be to dissect the ways meaning are presented within specific texts/contexts, what
underlying systems of beliefs that are expressed within them and the social implications
of such perceptions (See also Sahlin, 1999: 90 for similar reasoning).
In my understanding "policy" is hence to be understood as formalized practices targeted
a specific group or governing principles in order to exercise authority or governance. In
this sense "policy" express a given understanding of a social phenomenon and also how
practice should be formulated in order to “best” handle the phenomenon in question.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 38
In regards to this study I have systematically gathered a rather complete sample of
documents and text from the Swedish and Norwegian government, the Swedish Board of
Migration (Migrationsverket) and the Norwegian Boards of Immigration (UDI), the
Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs (Bufetat), The Norwegian
Directorate of Integration and Diversity (IMDi), the Swedish National Board of Health
and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) and the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and
Regions (SKL) regarding unaccompanied minors. I have also gathered some reports and
documents conducted by other actors involved in the national conceptualization of
unaccompanied minors (for instance Allmänna Arvsfonden, Rädda Barnen, Unicef,
NKVTS in Norway, R-Bup etc). In searching for documents or text to collect in my sample
I have selected those documents that explicitly or inherently have been of relevance to
the reception of unaccompanied minors. Searches have been conducted through the
different authorities and organisations official document databases (searchable on the
internet).
keywords
have
been:
“under-age”/”children”
and/or
“asylum”/”migration”/”trafficking”/”smuggling”/”refugee” or simply “unaccompanied
minors”, “unaccompanied asylum-seeking children”, “unaccompanied refugees”,
“reception” etc. leaving me with a total of approximately 100 different papers, text and
documents from the period of 2000 until 2010. As in the case of the newspaper sample I
have more material originating from the 2005 and onwards than from the 2004 and
backwards.
3.2.3 INTERVIEW DATA
My co-worker Charlotte Melander and I collected the sample of 48 interviews that I have
had the opportunity to also include in this thesis during the summer of 2011 until early
winter 2012. The interviews were conducted as part of a research project aiming to
study the municipal reception of unaccompanied minors in the Göteborg Region
Association of local authorities/GR. Some of the interviews were so called “focus groups”
whilst others were conducted “one-on-one”. “Focus group interviews” often means
involving more than one respondent or conducting an interview with a group of people
chosen to reflect on explicit issues. Interviews conducted in focus group often work well
in order to discover “discursive range” or where a specific discourse begins or ends,
because the limited repertoire of possible legitimate interpretations are highlighted
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 39
when people talk (Palmblad and Börjesson 82007: 17). Such “talk-acts” are of course
also conducted in the “one-to-one” conversation between the interviewer and the
interview subject. Important then is to also include the voice of the interviewer in the
analysis as she/he actively also take part in the interpretive process during the
interview. Some of the interviews were piloted with both Charlotte and me present and
some were conducted individually.
In order to broaden our sample and get a grip of the different actors involved in the
reception of unaccompanied minors in GR we decided to interview teachers and
pedagogues involved in the introductory school programs aiming at newly arrived
children (“sent anlända” or “nyanlända barn”) at the junior or high school level, we
interviewed social workers, people working at different homes for care and housing,
within the care administration, school nurses, counsellors, foster parents and guardians.
We tried to make contact with people involved in schooling, care, social services and
home from three distinct municipal context and from two of the district Committees of
the City of Gothenburg/”Stadsdelar i Göteborg” (out of the total of 12 municipalities +
the City of Gothenburg).
A total of 38 interviews were conducted with a total of 80 people focusing on what the
interviewee articulated as important parts of his/her everyday encounter and work
with unaccompanied minors and how they perceived their “role” in the reception of
minors. 10 interviews were conducted with eleven unaccompanied minors focusing
more on their experiences of the “system” as such, their everyday life and important
relationships (here and there). A semi-structural interview-guide that thematized
different aspects of everyday life, such as the home (whether the home here was in a
foster home family, extended family or at a home for caring or housing/”hvb-hem” and
there), aspects of health and wellbeing, school and learning conditions etc. was used in
both the interviews with officials, practitioners and youngsters. Other “themes” such as
ethnicity, age, gender, the “asylum system as such” etc. was fore-fronted by the
interviewee during the conversations.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 40
Though the interviews were strategically aiming at studying the reception of
unaccompanied minors in the GR, they were also pragmatic as we had more difficulties
making contact with some of the groups involved with unaccompanied minors than
others. We have hence conducted quantitatively more interviews with teachers and
pedagogues, people working at facilities for care and housing and the social service
officers than with legal guardians and people involved in the municipal health care
sector.
Two semi-structured interview guides served as conversation starters (See Appendix
for the guides). One guide focused on everyday aspects (hopefully) relevant to the
youngsters whilst the other was formulated to target the people working with them
(professionals
and
support
people).
Rather
than
to
strictly
direct
the
discussion/dialogue that took place during the interviews the interview guide served as
a tool to help us as interviewers to keep the conversation going and to offer helpful key
themes in order to retain the dialogue. The guide also evolved a bit from the first
interviews conducted until the last as we gained more relevant knowledge of all the
functions involved in the reception of unaccompanied children.
When talking to unaccompanied minors we sometimes had to use translators. The
translator was instructed to translate as accurately the content of the young person’s
response as possible. The translation process as such is an aspect you as researcher
really do not control in practice (Se also Andersson 2010, Malmsten 2012 and Nyberg et
al 2012 for similar lines of reasoning). This point to the importance of using qualified
translators. All the translators used were contacted though the “Tolkcentralen” and
were qualified (See also xx for how the accuracy in translation is much more precise
when the translation is conducted by a qualified translator). Sometimes we conducted
interviews with unaccompanied children without a translator present. With some this
was satisfactory, but with others this was also problematical as the unaccompanied
youngsters then had a really hard time verbalizing his/her experiences, as he/she
weren’t affluent enough in Swedish and of course because Charlotte and my knowledge
of Dari, Somali, Parsi and Persian were non-existent. To make use of a translator or not
is hence a dilemma that is difficult to overcome in practice. Instead we worked hard to
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 41
clarify ambiguities as the interviews passed on in order to make sure we had
understood each other.
The interviews were recorded on mp3 devices and were later transcribed into text by a
research assistant who had been instructed to make the transcripts of the vocal dialogue
as accurate as possible. Unfortunately the transcripts are not always as detailed as I
would possibly have had them: deciding who’s interrupting whom and how to
transcribe when people talk simultaneously are part of the active choices a process of
transcription involves (See Uhnoo 2011). It can hence be difficult to study interaction
patterns in the dialogue retrospectively if the transcription is done to lightly. Due to the
extensive number of interviews and the lack of time the assistance was necessary in
order to have all the interviews transformed into text. I have hence also tried to listen to
the recorded interview whenever I have doubted the transcript.
3.2.2.4 COMMENTS ON ANALYSING DIFFERENT MATERIALS
Research conducted within the field of discourse analysis assumes that different texts or
documents can be analysed or treated as they had equal weight (See Palmblad and
Börjesson 2007; 16-19). In my thesis official documents, newspaper articles and
interview transcripts have been object for an analysis where the singling out of similar
discursive patterns has been the main target. Central to the discourse analysis is that no
materials are considered as more authentic than any other. This makes the discussion of
bias with regards to data selection subordinate and no longer valid. The central task of
the researcher is instead to try to explain and argue which context that are represented
and why and to discuss the implications of this selection on the study at large. This is not
to say that the sampling of data to be analysed discursively needn’t be systematically
conducted. This is rather to say that a variety of data can be treated equivalently as no
text or document or interview has a preference above the other. Official knowledge
expressed in policy is not more truthful than tabloidised media narratives or peoples
own life-narratives. They have different claims for truth, are produced in different
context. Not to say that such talk are considered equal in society. The official discourses
expressed in policy can clearly have hegemonic authority over other opposing
discourses within a given nation (See Sahlin, 1999: 87).
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 42
In my study I have tried to select documents representing three different contexts: a
national, a medial and a local. Even though I have strived to get a comprehensive
overview of the medial and national level in Norway and Sweden with regards to
unaccompanied minors as possible, to get a total overview is unmanageable. Still the
comprehensive review of texts that I have conducted can offer some important
emphasizes to official (policy) or “common sense” (media) responses and articulations
of a specific social issue such as unaccompanied minors.
In regards to the small extract from the local context, it is important to bear in mind that
the case of the municipal reception in Gothenburg might not at all be representative to
the different receptions in other Swedish municipalities (and in Norway) but that the
interviews can bring forth and highlight important insights to the issue of
unaccompanied minors from an everyday life context.
3.3 DISCOURSE ANALYSIS IN PRACTICE - “HOW TO DO IT” AND “HOW I DID IT”
The methodology of discourse analysis was developed within the field of linguistics and
the literature study, before it also came to be a sociological instrument. In the classical
works of Foucault (1973, 1977 and 2002) discourse analysis became an incident
through which processes of “meaning construction” and how language is used within
specific context could be deconstructed. The aim of such an analysis was to detect the
inherent structures of power underlining what is said contextually, but also how to
deconstruct the implications of “the unsaid” (See also Sahlin, 1999: 84). Through
Fairclough the work tool of discourse analysis also came to comprise the study of social
interaction at large and the way we use language in order to represent notions of a social
world (Ibid: 85).
With the help of the discourse analysis the researcher can critically dissect specific
concepts that express and indicate how language is being used in practice and in order
to express a discourse. The aim of such decomposition is to detect the “meaning” that is
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 43
presented through this process. Discourses, in such an understanding, become analytical
representations deduced through processes of deconstruction (Sahlin 1999: 87. See Also
chapter 2.1 Language and power).
For instance when conducting a deconstruction of specific statements focus evolves
round concepts and their assigned meaning, what is or is not said in regard to this topic
and the implications of the explicitly and inherently expressed knowledge. Intradiscursive dependencies (Bergström and Boréus, 2000) relates to how phenomena within
a discourse are combined and interrelated (Ibid: 262f). The dissecting of such concepts
in the process of discourse analysis often relates to how change within specific “talk”
evolves inside the specific discourse. This can explain how the meaning of a concept
transforms historically as well as contextually (See for instance Foucault, 1977). Similar
conceptual dependencies are also working in-between discourses. This can be illustrated
with how the idea of “refugees” in the European context, in the aftermath of the second
world war came to be articulated as an security issue –threatening the new stability of
states– to be controlled and sanctioned whilst the same concept was constructed as a
subject in need of care and support during the 1970ties (See Malkki 1995 but also
Lindgren 1993: 163ff for a similar line of reasoning regarding the drug legalization
strategies versus the control and sanction strategies in Swedish drug-discourse).
The two extracts below exemplify how there consists different fixations of the concept of
unaccompanied minors:
Årligen kommer ett stort antal barn och ungdomar utan medföljande förälder eller
annan legal vårdnadshavare till Sverige för att söka asyl, så kallade ensamkommande barn.
Deras levnadsöden och bakgrund varierar men gemensamt för dem alla är att de
befinner sig i en utsatt situation. Det är därför ett viktigt gemensamt ansvar för de
berörda myndigheterna att mottagandet av barnen och prövningen av deras ärenden ges
hög prioritet. (Migrationsverket, Socialstyrelsen och SKL 2010, Ett gemensamt ansvar för
ensamkommande barn och ungdomar. Authors emphasis in bold)
In the quote above “unaccompanied minors” are understood as first and foremost as
minor asylum-seekers who arrive in Sweden without legal guardian. They are also
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 44
understood as children in an exposed situation for whom proper action needs to be taken
though exactly what the exposure consists of is not explicitly articulated. Inherently in
the quote there clearly consist a connection between the status of being “without legal
guardian” and the perceived “exposure” of the unaccompanied child. No differences
working in-between the different children are emphasized even though it is stated that
they are “here” for different reasons (ambivalence?). Instead their specific and essential
needs as children are implied and the importance of relevant authorities taking joint
action in their regard.
Høsten 2005 ankom 10 enslige kinesiske mindreårige med fly fra Moskva til
Gardermoen. Ved ankomst ble det oppdaget at de var i besittelse av falske pass, og de
søkte asyl da forfalskningene ble avslørt. De to først ankomne guttene, senere kalt
”Vårliguttene”, forsvant fra Vårli asylmottak i Østfold tidlig i oktober 2005. Guttene ble
meldt saknet til politiet, men er fortsatt etterlyst i Norge og internasjonalt.
(Politiet/Arbeidsgruppe 2009, Mindreårige som forsvinner fra mottak - forebygging og
oppklaring April 2008. Authors emphasis in bold)
The above extract highpoints other aspects with relevance to the discourse of
unaccompanied minors. In this quotation unaccompanied minors are articulated as
unaccompanied Chinese minor boys hence emphasizing a specific intersection of
ethnicity, age and gender who are carrying false passports, who claims asylum later to
“vanish without a trace”. The unaccompanied minor in this citation is pointed out as a
bit ambivalent (carrying false documentation) and the focus in the narration is the
specific sequence of action or modus operandi of the children. Instead of pointing out
unaccompanied minors as exposed children they are instead inherently framed in
regards to other concept such as trafficking, smuggling or forms of “irregular migration”.
In order to deconstruct specific discourses the researcher can choose different angles of
reference (Bergström and Boréus, 2000: 288). In this work I have also tried to extract
systems of meaning through examining the implications of a concept – its connotations.
This can be illustrated by how for instance the seemingly neutral concept such as for
instance “unaccompanied minor asylum-seeker”, always is understood in relation to
other concepts, such as for instance “victim” or “refugee” on the one hand but yet also
“smuggling”, “irregular migration” or so called “bogus asylum-seekers” on the other.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 45
This was clearly the case in the Norwegian citation on the last page (See Malkki 1995,
Watters 2008 and Hansen 2008 for similar lines of reasoning, Thörn, 2004). In the
Swedish extract on the last page connotations to a concept of “family”, and to the state of
being “separated” and “vulnerability” that was made.
Since these different concepts asylum-refugee-victim-trafficking-smuggling-irregular
migration-“bogus asylum-seeker” versus family-separation-vulnerability give rather
opposite meanings they also construct the unaccompanied minor subject as rather
ambivalent. Such ambivalent imaging is often called “double exposure” (See also Thörn
2004 and the discussion in Chapter 2.2.2 Governing Ambivalence). How such rather
diverse concept interrelates is important part of the deconstruction of discourses. This
have to do with how “chains of equivalence” or how systems of discourses also are
systems of distinctions with inherent positive and negative understandings (Bergström
and Boréus, 2000: 229f). The revealing of such binary oppositions or dichotomies has
been an important part of my discourse analysis.
To conduct a discourse analysis includes estranging and distancing oneself from the
texts, documents or interview transcripts – “data” – a process completed by underlining
specific key words or concept by the help of quotation marks (Sahlin, 1999: 91.) This
process helps to underline the specifics of occurrences/ways of making sense of “things”
that would otherwise seems just common sense to us, in a way that highlights them and
make them present themselves to us in novel ways (Ibid). To conduct a discourse
analysis means trying to critically deconstruct the often rather liquid distinctions
between what is considered legitimate or illegitimate, between the correct or incorrect
(Börjesson 2007:8) and includes an thorough analysis of different social categories in
order to study how they are transformed and “performed” through social action.
The data collection process, the reading of previous research and theory and analysis
has been parallel flows or run “circular” during the course of work. I have also coded,
organized and systematized my empirical data with the help of a program for qualitative
analysis (Atlas.ti). In my first coding of the newspaper narratives and official documents
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 46
I focused on how concepts or representations such as “children versus adults”, “gender”
and “age” and how “vulnerability” was constructed and framed with reference to the
concept of “unaccompanied minors”. Themes or figures of thought raised in previous
research on asylum, migration and unaccompanied children (see for instance
Engebrigsen, Eide, Hansen, Brown, Jackson, Van Djik, Watters 2008 etc. etc.) were other
constructive tools in the further categorizations of the different textual elements.
The samples of reports, plans of action, newspaper articles etc. comprised of more
varied lookouts and topics regarding “unaccompanied children” than expressed in
newspaper narratives. Confronted with the diversity of the empirical material, I soon
became aware that in order to systematically deconstruct it, I needed to find specific
angles around which I could structure the material. This would also allow me to get a
better overview. I consequently had to work more inductively to find key themes to
target the material. First of all this process involved reading the texts over and over, but
it also meant getting to know the specific inner organizations of the material and detect
the issues that were perceived central and common amongst them. Main themes in the
theoretical point of departure became important reference points and work tools in this
process.
With reference to the sample of interview data I moreover soon found connections too
many of the same themes that I had detected in the media narratives and in policy. This
was of course also expected as I had been able to structure the conversations within the
interviews much more strategically hence also target the conversation to them.
Regardless of this strategic framing of the interview the subjects clearly also made and
articulated many of the same points of reference evident in policy and media narratives
in their everyday talk.
IP: Den största skillnaden tror jag det är deras psykologiska, alltså de mår inte bra de
ensamkommande barnen när de kommer. Om man jämför med de som har
föräldrarna här och de som inte har föräldrarna här så är det mycket skillnad. Man ser
direkt att de inte kan koncentrera sig bra och de tänker hela tiden när jag ska få mitt
uppehållstillstånd och när de får uppehållstillstånd de tänker hur ska jag göra med
mina föräldrar, kommer de eller inte? Så det är mycket olika tankar i huvudet och då
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 47
blir det orsaken att de kan inte koncentrera sig bättre på studierna än en vanlig elev som
har föräldrarna här och har den, vad kan man säga, de har den tryggheten helt enkelt.
(Intervju med högstadieskola i kranskommun 3 sidan 2f)
In the quote above we see lines of thought with a clear reference to some of the
understandings expressed in the quote from the Swedish Migration board, The National
Board of Health and Welfare/Socialstyrelsen and the Swedish Association of Local
Authorities and Regions/SKL 2010. In this quote “the unaccompanied minor” is
considered as vulnerable and exposed because they are 1) here alone –separated-without
security 2) but also in regards to the specific “status” of being in the asylum-process.
They are furthermore also considered as 3) more exposed than accompanied children.
3.3.1. Self-reflexivity
Another imperative matter regarding the process of discourse analysing is the
importance of critical self-reflection. If language and speech, text and talk is imbedded
within discourse, whatever I as researcher says, writes and thinks also take part of a
specific discourse. Research on social issues is hence also part of the visualization,
production of meaning or constitution of the very subject of knowledge that the research
has as its focus (Sahlin, 1999: 104f and Whinter Jørgensen and Phillips, 2000:152-154).
Such a starting point also emphasizes how “science” per see has no principal or
automatic dominion over other opposing understandings. “Scientific knowledge” as
opposed to journalistic conducts or the common sense have been produced differently
and preferably through the conduct of systematically conducted studies and is evaluated
in different channels that can hence bring forth important supplements to such
comprehensions (Whinter Jørgensen and Phillips, 2000: 154).
3.3.3 VALIDITY
The undertaking of an empirical study always brings forth discussions concerning
validity. In regard to the discourse analysis, the liability of a specific research can be
examined in relation to whether or not it has been conducted systematically or whether
the presentation is open for “inter-subjectivity testing” or not (See Bergström and
Boréus, 2000: 37, 77, 142, Sahlin 1999: 90f, and Whinter Jørgensen and Phillips, 2000:
154). In order to make my interpretation of themes in the action plans, newspaper
narratives or the interview data accessible to the reader, I have used quotations to
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 48
support and illustrate my arguments. By doing this I have hopefully enhanced the
transparency of my study (Bergström and Boréus, 2000: 262). In regards to the
“accuracy” or plausibility of my work, anyone who wants to critically examine the
material – whether be it policy, newspaper articles and interview data- can do this and
hence also test the fairness of the conclusions drawn. I have also tried not to edited the
content of the interview quotations more than sometimes merely modifying them a little
only to make them understandable to the reader.
Other criterions of soundness that can help to enhance the accountability of this study re
the criteria of “theoretical validity” (See Lalander, 2001:266 or Davies 1999). In order to
argue, debate and support the main conclusions drawn the researcher continuingly
discusses or relates them to other research findings and theorizations in order to
validate these conclusions. Such constant pondering also constructs the process of
discourse analysis as a continuant negotiation process and as a reflexive dialectic
between the empirical material, the theoretical premises and previously conducted
research.
CHAPTER 4. THE VULNERABLE CHILD, THE AMBIVALENT TEEN AND
STRATEGIC ADULT (25 SIDOR )
When Norwegian and Swedish authorities construct information material and
reports conveying stories and narratives of unaccompanied minors these stories are
often illustrated and brought forward with pictures of children. Photographs of
happy, capable and go-lucky girls and boys, playing football or attending school,
illustrate these stories: Children that gaze right at you whilst smiling cheerfully. (See
for instance IMDI 2010). Sometimes these children are pictured while engaging in
what is often conceived as normal and even typical everyday activities for Swedish
and Norwegian children and youngsters. The only specifically different feature
about these kids -in comparison to what we think of as Swedish and Norwegian
youth- is often only implied by the colour of their skins and or their clothing’s (See
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 49
for instance Barne- og familiedepartementet 2000 or the young woman featured on
the front page of the pamphlet from Migrationsverket 2010 wearing a chador). At
other times and imaged in other context such as for instance in a selection of
newspaper articles but also in an official report from Swedish SKL and
Mirationsverket (2010) unaccompanied minors are instead conveyed as rather
anonymous children and youngsters standing in bare and empty rooms. They are
typically pictured from behind, whilst looking away from us, with their heads bent
and their shoulders hanging as indicating a state of sadness and grief (See for
instance the image of the little boy sitting with his head bent over his knees in the
Bufetat 2000 Håndbok for kommunene om arbeid med med enslige mindreårige
asylsøkere og Flyktninger). Representations rather parallel to the way victims often
become pictured in popular media (See also Loseke 1995, Ryding 2005, Uhnoo 2011
and Holgersson 2011). At other times the kids stare right at you with a serious look
in their faces and their arms crossed, as they were asking you something or calling
out for your immediate attention (See for instance Unicef 2010). Often they are
featured as teens, but also often as small children, sometimes even as toddlers.
Occasionally these newspaper articles, official reports, guide lines and action plans
do not convey any pictures of unaccompanied minors at all; instead the written
narratives are illustrated by a picture displaying the blank and often barren exterior
of an asylum reception centre.17
These seemingly ambiguous and rather different visual framings of unaccompanied
minors are clearly evident when unaccompanied minors become pictured in Norway
See also Aftenposten(2008) Politiet leter etter asylbarn
Aftenposten (2007) Aftenposten Slår alarm om asylbarn
Aftenposten (2007) Enslige asylbarn vanskelig å gjenforene
Aftenposten(2006) - Asylbarn drar til Norge
Aftenposten(2006) Kamp for asylbarn
Aftenposten (2006) To barn forsvunnet fra mottak
Aftenposten (2006) Ett av to asylbarn forsvinner
Aftenposten (2006) Vet ikke hvor barna ble av
Aftonbladet (2002) Hon tvingades att sälja sex
Aftonbladet (2002)17-åring: ”Alla vet hur lätt det är att sälja sin kropp”
Aftonbladet (2002), ”Ministern: Detta chockar mig, jag ska kontakta Rikskriminalen”
(Aftonbladet, 2002) "Socialen måste ta ansvar för de ensamma barnen" (Aftonbladet 2002),
”Självmordsförsök även på andra slussar för flyktingar”
17
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 50
and Sweden. When representing the concept of unaccompanied minors, something
clearly happens to the construct of the unaccompanied minors and the way we as an
audience/public come to understand what an “unaccompanied minor” is. “Speechmaking” can hence be seen as an instrument in order to call for action but also to
legitimize practices as well as an essential tool in order to communicate, legitimate and
bring forward a specific view of reality (See for instance Foucault 1993, Ryding 2005:
101 for parallel lines of argumentation). According to Foucault (1993) discursive
power lies within the right and or power to define and categorize (See Ibid).
Formulated in policy as guidelines or principles for official and or national action,
specific representations of a given social problem come to imply something real for the
group of people to which a certain action is directed (See also Lenz Taguchi 2004).
Though as I have argued in the short introductory “going through” of different visual
representations of unaccompanied minors, there rarely exists one view of a given
subject. Instead several conflicting images consist at the same time struggling to
prevail.
Central to this chapter is to analyse what, in a comparison between Norway and
Sweden, it is that has come to constitute the category of the unaccompanied minor
as different from the adult asylum-seeker but also from accompanied children. As
stated earlier unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are clearly represented
differently depending on context. In the following text my aim is to scrutinize the
concept of unaccompanied minors in regards to official talk on (chronological) “age”.
Central to this analysis is also to highlight some of the specific and practical
consequences and implication that these representations bring forth.
4.1. THE VULNERABLE MIGRANT AS A SEPARATED CHILD
According to Malkki (1995) it was during the 70ties and beginning of the 80ties that a
care oriented perspective came to colour of on the construction of a refugee reception
system. “The refugee” as a specific subject of knowledge and figure of speech was hence
brought forward. According to Malkki (Ibid) the reception system that came about in the
aftermath of world war two had as its main mode of conduct to control and regulate
millions of so called “misplaced persons” or refugees. The old concentration- or
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 51
internment-camps with their military logic where ironically much suited for this
purpose and many of them were therefore rebuilt as refugee camps. The European
states saw in the millions of refugee’s potential risks to the new and fragile peace. The
“refugee” was seen as an anomaly to a system of fixed borders where citizens were
considered as belong to a specific country or state. Structure, order and control were
hence desired and achieved by the constructing of a whole reception industry aiming to
closely monitor, register and observe the group of refugees (Ibid. 1995: 508).
During the 70ties and 80ties a new construction and understanding of refugees was
instead highlighted: Instead of just viewing refugees as potential risks, “the refugee” was
instead considered as suffering a special trauma unique to all refugees. Being a victim of
war torments and therefore being forced seek refuge away from the country of origin
(“homeland”) and to cross borders was considered as causing a total loss of identity and
sense of coherence and hence totally disrupting the “natural order” of belonging. The
“refugee” as a figure of thought in need of support, adequate health- and social care was
born. Migration per see was clearly still viewed as an incongruity; it was instead the
framing of the refugee problem that shifted. Research (conducted within the field of
social workers, psychology and sociology) on refugees also helped to homogenize
different narratives and experiences of being in “refuge” and to be a refugee was
therefore transformed into a uniform identity considered part and parcel to all refugees
(Malkki 1995: 510-513).
According to Malkki (Ibid) the contemporary European
reception system has come to ambivalently fluctuate between calls for stricter control
and regulation over refugees versus a view where more care and health-oriented
strategies are seen as appropriate.
Since Malkki’s (1995) study of the development of a European system of refugee
reception a shift from a talk of refugees to a talk of asylum-seekers in official rhetoric’s
have been evident. This replacing of words have been underlined by a parallel
transference of meaning that have worked to divide the “real refugees” from the
possible “bogus asylum-seekers” (see Fassin xx; Schierup, Castles and Hansen 2006;
Johansson 200; Hansen 2008 etc.) The talk of “asylum-seekers” instead of “refugees”
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 52
mirrors a climate of mistrust where the subjects legitimate grounds for “claiming”
asylum is brought into questioning.
The construction of unaccompanied minors as a group with special entitlements is
clearly correspondent to what Malkki (1995) and Fassin (xx) understand as a “refugee
production” that also work to single out a legitimate group of asylum-seekers. Even
though it is often narrated that unaccompanied minors do not consist a homogenous
group (see for instance Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs 2009) there
are clearly some features or elements that are understood as uniting unaccompanied
minors and hence separating this category from other groups of asylum-seekers or adult
refugees. In accordance to the understanding of the “refugee” as having witnessed or
experienced traumatic ordeals and hence being forced to flee everything known to
him/her, unaccompanied minors are often understood as having experienced terrible
torments in their country of origin. Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children have
access to a reception system and certain procedures that aim to take the specific interest
of separated and asylum seeking-children into focus. This particular and child friendly
reception is based on inherent and underlying set of ideas and notions of refugees and
asylum-seekers that also works to separate and homogenize and separate asylumseeking children from the asylum-seeking adults.
I verkets riktlinjer står det bland annat att innan verkets anställda fattar beslut i ett asylärende
ska de ta ställning till hur ett avvisningsbeslut skulle påverka barnets psykosociala utveckling. De
ska dessutom redovisa detta ställningstagande i beslutet. (Migrationsverket 2006:15 En samlad
analys av asylprocessen under åren 2001 – 2005 Dnr 2006-04-13 NRK-111-2006-7950)
UDI har særskilt oppmerksomhet rettet mot barn uten foreldre som søker asyl i Norge. Disse
barna har flere rettigheter og blir prioritert av UDI under behandling av asylsøknaden og
bosetting. Det er også særlige begrensninger for retur av mindreårige til hjemlandet. Det er de
siste årene opprettet egne ankomstmottak for denne gruppen og mottakene har tilknyttet
psykiatrisk ekspertise. Alle enslige mindreårige asylsøkere blir i dag plassert på egne mottak eller
avdelinger spesielt tilrettelagt for denne gruppen, og der de ansatte har flyktningfaglig og
barnefaglig kompetanse. (UDI 2004, Omfattende alderstesting av enslige mindreårige asylsøkere.
www.udi.no, 19.02.2004)
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 53
What separates the unaccompanied minor from the asylum-seeking adult is that the
child in addition to being a “refugee” also is a “child”. The processing of an asylum
application from an unaccompanied minor is hence considered as essentially “diverse”
from all the “ordinary” asylum cases (see for instance the quote above from
Migrationsverket 2006, but also in Rädda Barnen 2003:28). When looking into a child’s
asylum application (regardless of whether or not the child is unaccompanied or
travelling with next of kin) other accounts than merely the claim for asylum needs to be
investigated simultaneously. Such other accounts being, as in the quote from the
Swedish Migration board (2006), the importance of for instance evaluating the impact of
a rejected asylum application in regards to the child’s “psychosocial development”.
Inherent in this conception is an image of children as more vulnerable and more delicate
than adults. Children are considered as holders of specific rights regarding their status
as vulnerables. According to this rationale it is hence logical and essential that child
asylum-seekers are treated differently from the adult asylum-seeker and that working
with them implies skills in both child and refugee care and expertise.
Highlighting the exposed situation of the unaccompanied minor is often done in order to
draw attention to the need for more “child specific” and or child sensitive measures.
Implying that the methods used to take care of adult asylum-seekers requires to be reevaluated when applied to unaccompanied minors. As a vulnerable the child subject
need for instance not to have had experienced as traumatizing ordeals as the adult
subject in order to obtain a residence on humanitarian grounds or for reasons of
compassion (see the quote from UDI 2004, Omfattende alderstesting av enslige
mindreårige asylsøkere. www.udi.no, 19.02.2004.) Implicit in such an understanding is
that what constitute distress for the adult subject could cause severe traumas to an
innocent child.
Årligen kommer ett stort antal barn och ungdomar utan medföljande förälder eller annan
legal vårdnadshavare till Sverige för att söka asyl, så kallade ensamkommande barn. Deras
levnadsöden och bakgrund varierar men gemensamt för dem alla är att de befinner sig i en
utsatt situation. (Migrationsverket, Socialstyrelsen och Sveriges kommuner och landsting
2009)
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 54
Central to the understanding of unaccompanied children is accordingly that children
coessentially are different from adults, but that their state as children without parents
further enhances this vulnerability. If it was quintessential to the construction of the
refugee-trauma to be separated from “the homeland” or everything known and hence
being in a state of identity loss it is the separation from parents that are seen as
particularly damaging to unaccompanied minors. Being in a foreign and unknown
country, having suffered traumas are considered highly stressful factors but it is the
separation from parents and carers that is articulated as the common denominator and
what constitute unaccompanied minors as the “most vulnerable amongst refugees” (see
the quote from Folkehelseinstituttet 2008:6. See also Engebregsten 2002 for similar
lines of reasoning regarding unaccompanied minors in Norwegian policy).
Barna utgjør ingen homogen gruppe. Hver har sin historie og spesifikke bakgrunn. Det de
har til felles at de er uten foreldrenes tilstedeværelse og direkte omsorg, veiledning og
beskyttelse. De befinner seg i et fremmed land med et ukjent språk, uvante tradisjoner,
mat osv. Ofte har de bakgrunn fra samfunn med væpnete konflikter eller annen organisert
vold, og i ulik grad har de opplevd tap, savn, sorg og andre smertelige opplevelser.
(Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs 2009)
Om det till en bristfällig anknytning läggs en eller flera separa-tioner, hamnar barnet på ett
känslomässigt gungfly. Barn med en så-dan bakgrund befinner sig i riskzonen för att
drabbas av olika prob-lem(..) (SOU 2004: 74f Sexuell exploratering av barn I Sverige. SOU
2004:71 (sic.))
Implicit this also marks how “asylum-seeking children accompanied by parents” and
“unaccompanied minors” are separated from each other. Constructed as a “child” left to
his or her own device because he or she is separated from parents enhances the
understanding of unaccompanied minors as in need of special attention and treatment.
Inherent in this perception is also a conception of children as also represented as
somewhat belonging to their (biological) parents (See also Tronsons xx) historical
analysis of the concept of “parental custody” in law and policy). Being positioned close to
a parent (a mother) or carer is the child’s “natural” place to be (See also classical
theories on parent- child attachments patterns, for instance Chodorow amongst others).
According to such a rationale the infant child experiencing separation from a parent
(mother) is considered as suffering a developmental crisis relieved only when unified
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 55
with the same parent. As children grow and mature they will (and must) eventually
tolerate being separated from their parents for a prolonged period of time. Cycles of
separation versus unification are constructed as important when the child develops. But
if something happens that disrupt the “normal” sequence of separation and unification,
children are often considered as in risk of a suffering that might endanger their “natural
development”.18 Prolonged separation from the parents and being exposed to war and
terror further enhances the vulnerability of the child. According to this rationale parents
are considered as safeguarding their children even in extreme situations and those
children who migrate together with their parents are hence understood as in a safer
position. Such a view might imperil overconfidence in migrating parent’s or parents in
marginalized positions ability to protect their children from harm (See for instance
Andersson 2010, Lundberg xx and Watters 2008) and might also be potentially biased to
believing that children are always better off with their parents. According to Ayotte
(2000) and Eide and Broch (2010) some of the worlds unaccompanied children are
indeed runaways from abusive families.
Inherent in the understanding of a child as a binary opposition to the adult is also that a
child per see is a dependent receiver in need of support and care whilst adulthood as
such is constructed as a state of independency and that the adult subject should be the
giver of care. In the Swedish and Norwegian construction –the unaccompanied minor as
a child without a parent- comes to shift focus from the experiences leading to a choice to
migrate and instead come to dwell more on the status of the unaccompanied minor
being separated from the giver of care and the perceived state of loss and irreversible
18
These patterns of separation versus unification are often seen as “normal” when they do not prolong for “to
long” periods of time when the child is small (for instance when a toddler attends day care for a couple of
hours because the parents needs to go back to work) but can be stretched as the child grows older.
Paradoxically prolonged separations are also seen as important in order to enhance the child’s independence
from carers. This construction of “normal attachments patterns” becomes a spectre fluctuating between
dependence, independence and interdependence. It can also be argued that what developmental psychologists
constructs as a “pattern of normal attachment ” also mirrors and normalises the everyday experiences of
middle-class children growing up in any given (Western or Norwegian and Swedish) modern society were
parents works outside the home and individuality and autonomy is stressed. Experiences such as growing up
with a close carer/parent working from abroad or contexts where children are brought up by external family
are considered as rather anomalous and viewed as risks (See for instance the discussion on “global care drain”
in Hochchild and Ehrenreich 2002).
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 56
damage that this separation might cause the child (See for instance UDI xxxx and
Migrationsverket 2010).
Integral to a conception that constructs children as essentially different from adults is
also ideas about childhood as a specific “space” in human life (See also Dencik and Schiltz
Jörgensen 1999). This construction of “childhood” is often made with reference to ideas
of maturity and chronological age. Situated within the representation of children as
diverse from adults, is also an understanding of differences because of age working inbetween or separating different groups of children.19
4.1.1 CHILDHOOD AND CHRONOLOGICAL AGE
In connection to the production of the unaccompanied minor as a vulnerable subject
with specific entitlements it hence become the duty of child-oriented countries such as
Norway and Sweden to safeguard unaccompanied minors from the risks associated with
trauma and separation.
FNs Høykommissær for flyktninger uttalte i 1997 at enslige mindreårige flyktninger er den mest
sårbare gruppen, og som har høyest risiko blant alle innvandrere når det gjelder sosiokulturell
mistilpasning og psykiske problemer. I tillegg til tap av eller atskillelse fra foreldre, søsken, slekt
og venner, kommer disse barna ofte fra land med krig og konflikt, og mange har opplevd eller
vært vitne til overgrep og andre traumatiske hendelser (Folkehelseinstituttet 2008:6 Når
hverdagen normaliserers: psykisk helse og sosiale relasjoner blant enslige asylsøkere som kom til
Norge uten foreldrene sine. UNG-Kul rapport nr 1. 2008)
As I have argued in the following section the construction of the unaccompanied minor
as entitled to a specific reception and softer measures is based on the understanding
that unaccompanied children are first and foremost children without (adult) carers.
Their position as vulnerables is based on assumption of what children need. But given
that there exists no essential distinction between what constitutes an adult versus a
child in the Western world ideas of chronological age have come to be deemed as
synonymous with the true age of a subject and is hence also considered as an important
identity marker.
19
In this chapter it is how age intersects with a concept of childhood, that is the main focus and analytical
target. It hence goes without saying that dimensions such as class, gender, ethnicity, disabilities and sexuality
and so forth also separates and works creates differences between children and their experiences as well as
societies understanding of them.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 57
Utlendingsmyndighetene, andre offentlige instanser og barnet selv har interesse av at
barnets rette alder blir klarlagt. Et barns alder er av betydning både i forhold til rettigheter
og plikter i samfunnet. (UDI/Utlendingsdirektoratet, 2004/2008 Retningslinjer for
aldersundersøkelse av asylsøkere lRS 2004-028, Saks-nummer: 04/9576, 13. september
2004, Sist endret: 15. juli 2008)
“(A)ge is often equated solely (as) chronological age and stripped of its social meanings.
This overlooks the fact that chronological age is itself socially constructed – employed
primarily as a ‘marker’ of human development in societies ordered by chronological
time” (Rose Clark-Kazak, 2008: 1309). The link between chronological age and ideas of
maturity is made explicit in laws and practice: Specific ages correspond with gaining
more autonomy. Visualized in Swedish and Norwegian practice in for instance how
turning 18 years of age means gaining majority. Chronological age is also connected to
specific duties and obligations; turning 15 equals suddenly being criminally responsible
for your actions or as in the case of the asylum-seeking child; turning 14 equals being
obliged to have your fingerprints taken (”daktning”) and being registered by the
Eurodac system when applying for asylum (See the Dublin regulations and
Migrationsverket 2012 and UDI 2012). Chronological age is accordingly also clearly
connected to a withdrawal of rights: when the unaccompanied minor turns 18 her/his
extra child sensitive benefits are removed and he/she is obliged to apply for asylum as
an adult. When the unaccompanied minor was constructed as a specific subject with
entitlements this was done in regards to an evaluation of children’s entitlements
because of their specific needs, but when these extra benefits are taken away this is
done merely in accordance to an understanding of chronological age.
Understandings of connections between age and obligations versus rights are clearly
operating when it comes to the articulation of a coherent reception system directed
unaccompanied minors: Any person under 18 years of age is in accordance with
Swedish and Norwegian policy to be treated as a child (child specific measures are to be
taken, specific reception facilities, child sensitive asylum process etc.) Inherent are
clearly ideas operating that work to stratify in-between children: If childhood as such is
a space that separates the adults from the children there clearly exists spaces within
childhood that separates categories of children from one another. One could argue that
notions of biological age have come to equalize ideas of maturity to such an extent that
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 58
biological age become the demarcation line that divides between spaces or “stages”
within childhood.20
Bufetat har etter barnevernloven § 5A-1 plikt til å tilby alle enslige mindreårige asylsøkere,
tilbud om opphold på et omsorgssenter for mindreårige. Ansvaret inntrer fra den enslige
mindreårige overføres fra utlendingsmyndighetene. Bestemmelsen gjelder barn som er
under 15 år når asylsøknaden fremmes. (Bufetat 2008/2009. Omsorgssentre for enslige
mindreårige asylsøkere. 09.09.29/2009.05.15)
Begreppet barn är i detta sammanhang något missvisande. Det handlar vanligen om pojkar
i tonåren. (Eriksson 2010 : 4. “Hem ljuva hem” –redovisning av uppdraget som regeringes
coordinator för ensamkommande barn. 12 mars 2010) Termen ensamkommande barn
används därför att den är kortfattad och juridiskt korrekt. Jag är överens med många
kommuner om att det är viktigt att också tydliggöra målgruppens ålder i planeringen av
mottagandet eftersom 16-17-åringar generellt sett behöver ett annat mottagande än små
barn. (Ibid: 6)
“Children” per see are clearly defined in relation to an understanding of childhood as a
fluctuant space ranging from a position of total dependency –infancy- and to one
characterized by more and more autonomy and independency. As indicated in the quote
above teenagers’ competence, capability and needs position them as quite different
subjects than small children.21 According to such a rationale ( See Erikssons quote
above) “to reach ones teens” calls for a reception, different from that who is considered
appropriate for young or small children. According to Eriksson (in the quote above from
2010) the age composition of the unaccompanied minors is an important indicator to
how a specific and appropriate reception system for unaccompanied minors should
develop. In Norway the division between children because of biological age are drawn
even further: here demarcation lines between different unaccompanied minors are
made explicit when separating children less than 15 years (in practice since year 2007)
from those above 15. The 14 years old and younger are obligations of the Norwegian
directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs (Bufetat). The older ones (i.e.
20
Such a view of maturity as an on-going process enclosed by fixed ideas of biological age could for instance be
illustrated by the fact that when a Swedish and Norwegian child reaches the age of seven he/she is suddenly
obliged to attend school. According to some theorists this come to work as a transition “rite de passage”
marking the very end to a period of childhood ranging from infancy to school-age where the child has engaged
in free play and indicate the beginning of the next “learning phase” instead (see ref,ref).
21
Childhood versus adolescence and adulthood are also partly defined in relation to different bodily changes,
such as for instance the reaching of maturity in regards to menarche and the growth of facial and pubic hair.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 59
according to the official statistics also the majority of unaccompanied minors) are still in
the care of the Norwegian Board of Immigration (UDI).
I dagens globaliserte samfunn med stor mobilitet og informasjonsspredning har den stadig
økende avstanden mellom velstående nasjoner og de fattige land i verden blitt stadig mer
synlig for et økende antall mennesker. Samtidig som det rent praktisk er blitt enklere å
forflytte seg, reises og forsterkes formelle barrierer for å hindre at mennesker beveger seg
fritt. Det er etter hvert relativt sett få og små porter fra fattige til rike land. En slik port er
det å søke asyl som enslig mindreårig. Det er mange årsaker som ligger bak det å forsøke å
slippe inn gjennom denne porten. Justis og politidepartement 2008: %)
The singling out of the unaccompanied minor as a special group with specific
entitlements’ because of their position as vulnerables clearly comes to politicises the
issue of age in Norwegian and Swedish policy towards unaccompanied minors. Given a
restrictive asylum system and an understanding of a lack of doors or points of entrance
between the richer and poorer parts of the world (See for instance the quote above),
couldn’t applying for asylum claiming to be an unaccompanied minor, work as a possible
entry for adults hoping to make it Norway or Sweden? Given the different reception of
vulnerable unaccompanied children versus adults the focus on how to separate the
small children from the older and the teenagers from those over 18 become a main
target.
4.2 AGE ASSESSMENT IN PRACTICE
As I have stated earlier and according to the principles stated in the Children’s bill of
rights any individual under the age of 18 is to be considered a child and is hence
entitled to a “softer” asylum scheme. This is for instance brought forward in regards
to unaccompanied minors having the right to a “child friendly environment”, a legal
guardian (“God man”/”särskilt förordnad vårdnadshavare” in Sweden or “hjelpe
verge”/”verge” in Norway) and a quicker asylum procedure. As a rule of thumb
unaccompanied and asylum seeking children have normally not been refused of
entry nor been deported out of the country when and if their asylum claim are
rejected in neither Sweden nor Norway. This softer measures are contrasted by
what Brekke (2004, 2005 and xx) sees as a scheme of rather restrictive actions
taken against adult asylum-seekers (both singles and families) in order to
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 60
symbolically and in practice deter people from ever applying for asylum in the first
place (See again also Watters 2007).
The intention to retain a restrictive asylum scheme can come on a colliding course
with the best interest of the child. In order to make these two rather irreconcilable
aims smoothly cooperating the distinction between adults i.e. asylum seekers over
the age of 18 and those labelled children (i.e. any asylum seeking person under the
age of 18) becomes important. This separation or singling out is interesting to view
in accordance with what Engebregtsen (2002); Watters (2008); Kohli (2008); Eide
(2005); Hansen (2008) and Schierup et al (2006) argues is an illustration of how
European states and the EU has come to focus on separating the “real victims” from
“bogus asylum-seekers” and how this debate also has come to colour of on public
perception of migrants and asylum-seekers per see. Such a moral economy risks
also giving rise to the state of ambivalenceness that Bauman (xx) and Watters
(2007) highlights hence legitimating even sterner and uncompromising measures
taken in regards to people claiming asylum in Norway and Sweden.
4.2.1 NORWAY – “WHEN CHILDREN APPLY FOR ASYLUM THEY ARE SAFEGUARDED AS CHILDREN”
During the period between 2000 and 2010 a clearly articulated toughening of
practices regarding the reception of unaccompanied minors was evident, at least if
one look at the way unaccompanied minors were comprehended in Norwegian
policy. Expressed in the Norwegian context (especially by the UDI/Board of
Immigration) was an apprehension of how having a “soft asylum scheme” could
make Norway a possible target country for a peaking number of asylum-seekers
(See also Hansen 2008 and Schierup 2005 for similar reasoning). As stated earlier
unaccompanied children have access to a specific reception different from that
accessible to adult asylum-seekers. Given the Norwegian understandings of few
existing points of entrance to the Western world and the implicit understanding of
“hoards” of people eagerly in search of such doors it is hence articulated as rather
strategic to try to pass as a child in order to obtain a residence permit in Norway or
the softer and “child friendlier” asylum process.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 61
I 2002 oppga 894 å være enslige mindreårige ved ankomst til Norge. Dette er rekord
både hos oss og i Norden. Den viktigste årsaken er sannsynligvis at vi, i motsetning til
Sverige og Danmark, ikke har hatt et system for aldersfastsetting i saker der man er i
tvil om alder. Mange oppgir dessverre uriktig alder fordi det er lettere å få
oppholdstillatelse som mindreårig. UDI har derfor innført et nytt system for å
fastsette alder på asylsøkere, ut fra tannundersøkelser og håndrotrøntgen. (UDI 2003
Når barn söker asyl, blir de ivaretatt som barn. )
De siste årene har Utlendingsdirektoratet (UDI) registrert en markant økning i antall
voksne asylsøkere som oppgir å være under 18 år, i håp om å bli behandlet som
mindreårig. Derfor innførte UDI februar 2003 et nytt system for aldersundersøkelser
når det oppstår tvil om søkerens alder.(UDI 2004, Omfattende alderstesting av enslige
mindreårige asylsökere.)
In the extract above from the Norwegian immigration board (2003) it is stated that
the reason that Norway receive many (and much more than Sweden and Denmark)
asylum claims from under-age asylum-seekers is due to the fact that Norway do not
have a system of age testing in cases where there could be reason to question if the
age given by the asylum-seeker is “correct”. A call for action and implementation of
new age-testing measures were hence considered and legitimized. By parallel also
outlining that “when children apply for asylum they are safeguarded as children” the
Norwegian Immigration board similarly communicates that the singling out of the
illegitimates –i.e. those over 18 years of age- is done in such a way that it does not
harass proper care of the “real” children. Sometimes it is also implied that the
separation of the “real children” from the bogus or “adults pretending to be underage” is done with the best interest of children at hand (See for instance also UDI
(2003/2007) Hvordan er saksgangen i asylsaker? (www.udi.no), UDI (2004)
Omfattende alderstesting av enslige mindreårige asylsökere. (www.udi.no), UDI
(2004/2008a) Retningslinjer for aldersundersökelse av asylsökere. RS 2004028. Saksnummer: 04/9576, UDI (2004/2008b) Veiledning til individuell
kartleggning og tiltaksplan for enslige mindreårige asylsökere/flyktninger, UDI
(2005b) Prosjekt for oppsporing og retur av enslige mindreårige asylsökere.
(www.UDI.no), UDI (2005c) Utlendingsdirektoratets saksbehandlingsrutiner for
enslige mindreårige asylsökere og flyktninger. DM sak 050824-05 (Gjeldende fra
September 2005 etc.)
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 62
The system of age determination based on biometrical testing was implemented and
came into use in Norwegian practice during 2003. Through the reading of x-rayed
dental and skeletal status the undisputable and “true” chronological age of the
asylum-seekers was thought to be revealed.22
Parallel to the introduction of this novel practice in 2003 was also the decision to reevaluate unaccompanied children’s exception from Dublin dismissals and to limit
the previous practice of granting unaccompanied minors above 16 years of age a
permanent residence in Norway “just because” next of kin cannot be traced (See
UDIs årsrapport 2009).
Einslege mindreårige har ikkje lenger eit generelt unntak frå å bli returnerte til eit
anna land som er med i Dublin-samarbeidet,og ungdommar over 16 år som får
opphald berre fordi det ikkje er råd å finne omsorgspersonar, kan få eit mellombels
løyve som gjer at dei må returnere til heimlandet når dei fyller 18 år. (UDIs
årsrapport 2009b)
22 See also UDI (2003/2007) Hvordan er saksgangen i asylsaker? (www.udi.no)
UDI (2004) Omfattende alderstesting av enslige mindreårige asylsökere.
(www.udi.no)
UDI (2004/2008a) Retningslinjer for aldersundersökelse av asylsökere. RS 2004028. Saksnummer: 04/9576
UDI (2004/2008b) Veiledning til individuell kartleggning og tiltaksplan for enslige
mindreårige asylsökere/flyktninger.
UDI (2005a) Familieinvandring for fosterbarn – krav til dokumentasjon –
utlendingsforskriften 24 förste ledd bokstav f. RS 2005-016. Saksnummer: 05/4782
UDI (2005b) Prosjekt for oppsporing og retur av enslige mindreårige asylsökere.
(www.UDI.no)
UDI (2005c) Utlendingsdirektoratets saksbehandlingsrutiner for enslige
mindreårige asylsökere og flyktninger. DM sak 050824-05 (Gjeldende fra
September 2005)
UDI (2005/2008) Retningslinjer for arbeidet med enslige mindreårige asylsökere i
ankomstfasen. RS 2005-049. Saksnummer: 05/12490
UDI (2006/2008) Aldersundersökelse. (www.udi.no)
UDI (2007a) Bruk av aldersunderöskelse i asylsaker.( www.udi.no )
UDI (2007b) UDI og mottakene har fokus på enslige mindreårige. (www.udi.no)
UDI (2008c) Ankomstfasen: Egenerkläring og asylintervju. (www.udi.no)
UDI (2008d) Tall og Fakta, (bokmål) (www.udi.no)
UDI (2009c) global statistikk enslige mindreårige asylsökere og asylvedtak.
http://www.udi.no/Global/upload/StatistikkNY/Asyl/Asylvedtak%20EMA%202009
.htm
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 63
Expressed in these national Norwegian responses and or “signalizing politics” is the
fear of being the one (Nordic or European) country left behind with a possible
burden of growing asylum migration. According to Brekke (2004) shifts in and a
toughening of asylum policies are often legitimized by a fear of having the softest
asylum scheme in a world of restrictive policies. Policy coordination is on the one
hand understood as liable methods to more equally share the burden of asylummigration between (north western) countries. Malkki (1995) shows how refugees
become constructed as a third world problem of peripheral character to North
western countries. Parallel to this migration per see inherently become constructed
as something of external origin that through its potential consequences –people
migrating and applying for asylum elsewhere- consists as a latent social problem or
burden on the welfare state. Asylum-seekers on the other hand are constructed as
possible strategic migrants actively seeking out the nation with the softest scheme
(See also Johansson 2005 for similar discussion) hence creating a system overload
or a scenario of increasing migration influx. It is hence justified to strengthen the
control mechanisms or to close the possible entrance points i.e. to make it harder for
a “strategic adult” to pass as a “vulnerable child”.
As an indisputable “child” the vulnerability of the asylum-seeking subject clearly
legitimizes soft measures and care taking, but as a potential “strategic adult” a
parallel call is made in order to regulate and control the same subject. Inherent
within these understandings and the actions that they make legitimate is the
conception of unaccompanied minors as in need of protection just because they are
children23. One might even argue that in accordance to Norwegian practice the
positioning of asylum-seeking children as objectified “vulnerables” renders them the
possibility of being understood as possible (political) subject that could hence be
entitled to asylum as refugees. Unaccompanied minors are similarly often not
viewed as having legitimate asylum claims (see also Engebregtsen (2002) and Eide
2005 and 2010 for similar findings). When the UDI in the Norwegian quote (last
page) states that youngsters above 16 no longer can get residence “just because”
23
I.e. the construction of vulnerablility. See also O`Conell Davidson and Farrow 2007 and Best 1990.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 64
their next of kin cannot be traced, they inherently also states that most youngsters
had gotten their permanent residence for this very reason.
They got their
permanent residence permit for compassionate reasons and only because they were
considered separated children and not because they are considered as (legitimate)
refugees according to the Geneva Convention (See also Fassin 2005).
Depriving teenagers the rights that are made accessible to unaccompanied children
is important to analyse in the light of how “vulnerability” become constructed in
Norwegian policy and practice: As a 16 year old, the unaccompanied minor is not
granted a permanent and indefinite residence, but is instead granted a temporary
stay until 18 years of age (See for instance UDI 2009b). The separation of the group
under the age of 15 for whom Norwegian social service became in charge during
2007, from the unaccompanied minors above 15 is another example.24
By highlighting that the Norwegian asylum system safeguards and treats children as
children, it is also implied that the possible others falsely claiming to be children are
to be treated accordingly. What become evident within the field of Norwegian policy
regarding unaccompanied minors is that ideas about chronological age clearly come
to enclose and limit the rights to whom the (under-age) asylum-seeker has access.
Maturity is clearly constructed as a gradual process transforming the
unaccompanied minor subject from its position as a “vulnerable” towards
adulthood. Teenagers become undecidable others: clearly not adults, but maybe not
really in essence “vulnerable children”.
24 See for instance: Barne- og familiedepartementet (2000) Håndbok om enslige asylsökende flyktningbarn
Bufetat (2008/2009) Omsorgssentre for enslige mindreårige asylsökere.
(www.bufetat.no Dokumentsti: Barnevern -> Enslige mindreårige asylsøkere ->
Omsorgssenter)
Bufetat (2008/2009) Bosettning for barn under 15 år. (www.bufetat.no
Dokumentsti: Barnevern -> Enslige mindreårige asylsøkere -> Bosetting
Bufetat (2009) Enslige mindreårige asylsökere under 15 år. (www.bufetat.no
Dokumentsti: Barnevern -> Enslige mindreårige asylsøkere -> Enslige mindreårige
asylsøkere under 15 år)
Det kongelige barne- og likestillingsdeparementet; Ot.prp. nr. 28 (2007–2008) Om
lov om endringer i lov 17 juli 1992 nr. 100 om barneverntjenester mv. (Omsorgen
for enslige mindreårige asylsøkere inntil bosetting eller retur)
UDI (2008a) Stort behov for nye hjelpeverger. (www.udi.no)
UDI (2008b) Tilbud om mottaksplasser for enslige mindreårige. (www.udi.no)
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 65
Aldersundersøkelsene gir ikke entydige resultater, og skal benyttes med varsomhet.
Resultater fra undersøkelsene blir også sett i sammenheng med annen informasjon
vedrørende personens sannsynlige alder. En person som har oppgitt å være 17 år der
resultatet av aldersundersøkelsen er ”sannsynligvis 20 år”, vil med stor sannsynlighet få
beholde sin oppgitte alder ved vedtak i asylsak. Dersom det finnes opplysninger om at
søker har fremmet asylsak i et annet land, eventuelt at det der også foreligger
reisedokumenter, kan saken få et annet utfall. (Justis og politidepartement 2008:11)
What also become clear in the Norwegian context is that the system of biometrical
age tests is an ambivalently viewed practice. The very same institutions that
exercise such instruments clearly also question its “accuracy” as an age
determination tool. Age appears clearly also determined in relation to more overall
concerns and validations (such as for instance individual maturity and needs.) But
since the division between those above 18 years of age (the real adults) and those
beneath (the real unaccompanied minors) is rather difficult to draw, differentiations
between children become centrally. In order to maintain a system of restrictive but
also “child friendly” policies, restrictiveness towards the “grey-zone” subjects (such
as teenagers) become legitimate.
4.2.2 SWEDEN- “CHILDREN ARE TO FOLLOW SPECIFIC RULES AT THE RECEPTION CENTRES,
BECAUSE THEY ARE CHILDREN ”
The Swedish national plans of action or policies on unaccompanied minors reflect
many of the same points of reference that clearly correspond to the official
Norwegian responses: Children are singled out as specific and vulnerable subjects
entitled to a more care oriented reception system and the separation of adult
asylum-seekers from the unaccompanied children is considered of high political
importance. Interesting in this context, and in comparison with Norway, is that
Sweden had (new guidelines are under development from the National Board of
Health and Welfare/Socialstyrelsen and are expected to be launched during late
2012) not implemented a system of biometrical age testing equal to the Norwegian.
Instead age-assessment has/is a practice conducted in dialogue. Swedish Migration
board officers (handläggare) meets the asylum-seeking child, collects documents,
gathers information from the legal guardian and social service officers and it is
during these conversations that age-assessment is brought about (Migrationsverket
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 66
2006 Utlänningshandboken -37.3 Åldersbedömningar. 2006-02-28/2007-01-22) in
the Swedish context. Sometimes medical examinations –x-rays- are conducted
additionally, but then as complements in order to support or to contest the result of
the first age-assessment.
Den medicinska bedömning (anses inte) uteslut(a) att sökanden kan bedömas som
vuxen i en sammanvägning med övriga uppgifter. (Migrationsverket 2006: 2.8.
Bedömning efter medicinsk bedömning och konsekvenser av resultatet).
In the Swedish system it becomes the duty of the Migration board officer to measure
the age of the unaccompanied minor. The result of this work is not considered a
juridical decision and can hence not be appealed against. Age is clearly considered
as something beyond being merely a biological trait. It is connected to maturity –
similar to the Norwegian definitions- but also in accordance to an evaluation of
individual needs and to rights versus obligations (connected to chronological age) in
the Swedish society.
Vidare ska sökanden upplysas om vad det innebär att bli registrerad som
ensamkommande barn. (…) God mans beslutsbefogenhet ska förklaras d v s barns
begränsade rätt att själv bestämma i frågor om var det ska bo, ekonomi mm. Barnet
måste också följa särskilda regler i boendet eftersom det är ett barn.
(Migrationsverket 2006, Utlänningshandboken -37.3 Åldersbedömningar. 2006-0228/2007-01-22)
A child as such is conceived as having a limited self-sovereign space. The status as
an unaccompanied minor gives access to a softer asylum scheme, but is clearly also
associated with specific limitations; such as being dependent on a legal guardian
making decisions, being “placed” in a foster home or a HVB-home and having to
comply with specific rules articulated by the carers in that home. Expressed in the
quote from Migrationsverket (2006) is also the importance of making the
“applicant” fully appreciate the specific obligations or limits inherent in the status of
being labelled an underage and unaccompanied asylum-seeker.
Som framgår av föregående avsnitt finns det inte någon möjlighet att med stöd av
medicinsk utredning fastställa absolut rätt ålder. Den biologiska variationen är
betydande och ökar med åldern. Vid sammanvägning av olika undersökningsresultat
kan diskrepansen mellan dessa vara betydande. Utgångspunkten måste vara en
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 67
barnmedicinsk helhetsbedömning. (Socialstyrelsen 1993: 3, Socialstyrelsens allmänna
råd; Medicinsk åldersutredning av invandrarbarn och adoptivbarn. SOSFS 1993:11)
Accordang to the Swedish Socialstyrelsen (1993, in the quote above) medical
examinations as a base for age assessment are considered as rather unreliable
instruments. Biological variation is seen as increasing with age, hence making it
more difficult to chronologically judge age by biologically examining the child. As
the child grows older such evaluation become even more problematic (See also Eide
2010 for similar discussion). A “good assessment of age” according to the Swedish
rationale must hence be based on a more comprehensive medical valuation. Age as
such is not readable through bones, teeth and other biological traits.
But even though Swedish authorities contest medical tests as means to age evaluate
unaccompanied minors the fear of strategic adults trying to pass as unaccompanied
children is evident (See for instance Eriksson 2010).
Många vittnar om att en del av barnen i mottagandet är överåriga. Det finns inga
säkra undersökningar för att fastställa rätt ålder. En okulär besiktning kan göras, men
det är inte tydligt vem som skall göra den och hur samarbetet skall se ut och om den
är tillförlitlig. Kommunerna vill att en åldersbedömning görs innan barnen blir
placerade i kommunen för det är svårt med överåriga i boendena. En tillförlitlig
åldersbedömning skulle enligt vår uppfattning leda till att fler platser blir tillgängliga.
(SKL och Migrationsverket 2010, Ensamkommande barn och ungdomar ett
gemensamt ansvar. www.skl.se)
In the quote above (SKL 2010) it is also made clear that there is a “problem” with
unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers being in reality “over-age” (above 18 years of
age) and that it hence become important to construct good (evidence based)
methods in order to age asses asylum-seeking children accurately. “Over-age”
asylum-seekers side-by-side “underage” or children are considered challenging to
the local municipalities taking daily care of unaccompanied minors. Within this
conception the real children are constructed as vulnerable and the possible adults
passing as children as suspicious subjects posing as possible threats to the
vulnerable children (See also Best 1990 for similar inherent fear of adults and the
Norwegian conception). A relationship between adults passing as children and overcrowded facilities is also established. The increase in unaccompanied children
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 68
applying for asylum in Sweden could (parallel to the Norwegian construction) be
understood as a consequence of calculating adults trying to pass as children and not
necessarily be the result of increased unaccompanied child migration. According to
the Swedish rationale good methods for age determination is required, though the
methods at hand –such as medical assessments and tooth and skeletal x-rays- are
considered as unreliable. Chronological age is clearly also in the Swedish
construction considered as the “correct” age of a given subject. The division between
adults and children should coherently be based on accurate measures of
chronological age. The importance of separating the legitimate “vulnerables” from
the bogus is also evident.
4.3 CONTEXTUALIZED MATURITY –CONTEXTUALIZED VULNERABILITY
Even though “age” is considered as indisputably connected to rights and obligations
some of the distinctions made between youngsters, children and adults are
seemingly also fluidly dependent on context. Chronological age as such can hence
give different implications in different spaces or contexts of the asylum process.
During the asylum procedure the 18 years division is constructed as a fixed entity
that rigidly divides the possible (strategic) adults from (vulnerable) children. If the
unaccompanied minor turns eighteen years of age before the final asylum decision
the unaccompanied minor becomes treated as an adult. He/she is then transferred
to the adult facilities and is suddenly excluded from those extra benefits earmarked
unaccompanied minors (for instance the trusteeship of the legal guardian end when
the asylum-seeking child turns 18 years). 25 The division seems in essence
watertight: you are either under the age of 18 and a child/ youngster or either you
25 See for instance UDI 2003/2005, Enslige mindreårige asylsökere som blir 18 år för vedtaket er fattet i asylsaken - uf §
21 annet ledd, jf ul § 8 annet ledd Migrationsverket 2006 Utlänningshandboken -37.3 Åldersbedömningar. 2006-0228/2007-01-22
Migrationsverket Socialstyrelsen och SKL (2009) Ett gemensamt ansvar för
ensamkommande barn och ungdomar, (www.migrationsverket.se)
Migrationsverket 2009a verksamhets och kostsamhetsprognos 2009
Migrationsverket 2009b, Aktuellt om barn och unga, (www.migrationsverket.se)
Migrationsverket (2009c) AKTUELLT OM Ensamkommande barn och ungdomar.
Juni, juli, augusti 2009
Migrationsverket 2010, Avgjorda asylärenden innevarande år,
(www.migrationsverket.se)
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 69
have reached the age of adulthood and is hence to be treated as an adult asylum
seeker.26
The eighteen years old subject is, according to the construction of the adult as a
binary opposition to the child, suddenly understood as capable of taking care of
his/her selves and obliged to make balanced and rational choices (See also
Migrationsverket 2001:3). Yet if the unaccompanied asylum-seeking teen gets a
permanent residence permit in either Norway and Sweden the razor sharp division
between those over and those less than 18 years of age become rather blurred and
fluctuant.
Eftersom många barn och ungdomar kommer till Sverige i åldern 16-18 år, anser flera
kommuner, att vården och omsorgen i form av stödinsatser behöver bestå även under
en tid i vuxenåldern. Enligt ersättningsförordningen kan kommunerna inte återsöka
kostnader efter det att barnet fyllt 18 år. Svensk lagstiftning ger föräldrar skyldighet
att försörja sina barn upp till 20 år om barnet fortfarande studerar på gymnasienivå.
(Integrationsverket 2001: 6, Rapport till regeringen Ensamkommande barn 1) -en
uppföljning av introduktionsinsatser för mottagna åren 1998-2000. )
I tillegg skal Departementet revidere rundskrivet som regulerer ettervern av barn
under barnevernets omsorg, og legge til en anbefaling om at ungdom som takker nei
til ettervern skal kontaktes når de fyller 19 år for å undersøke om de likevel ønsker å
motta tiltak. De seneste endringene er et skritt i riktig retning for å sikre eldre
ungdommer det støtteapparatet de kanskje har behov for mens de er på vei inn
i en selvstendig voksentilværelse. (Folkehälseinsitututtet/IMDI 2009:14, Avhengig
og Selvstendig - Enslige mindreårige flyktningers stemmer i tall og tale. Rapport
2009:11. My bold)
When moved from the asylum-process space to the integration-process space the
unaccompanied minor is not always considered as automatically becoming the
capable and self-catering adult subject when reaching the age of 18. In practice the
local municipal social service (in Norway as well as Sweden) can decide that the
26
In the Norwegian context the transference from the minor to the adult category is also automatically the case when the
unaccompanied minor is estimated as older due to the result of the medical age examination
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 70
young adult might in fact be in need of prolonged care and support until the age of
23. Suddenly the eighteen years boundary between the vulnerable child and the
adult subject is not that fixed. The group of people in the age span between 18 until
21 can parallel also be constructed as “young adults”, “older youth” or sometimes
even as vulnerable adults. Young adults that are considered as in need of supervision
and guidance and not to be let on his/her own. The constructions of vulnerability
versus maturity in relation to chronological age are clearly also contextualized
concepts.
4.4. AN AMBIVALENT VICTIM?
Imbedded within the visualisation of the unaccompanied minor is an understanding
of the concept of “the child” as binary opposing the concept of “the adult”. As a child
the asylum seeker is vulnerable and dependent and in need of care and protection
(See also Jenks 1996, 1998 for this understanding of children). This articulation is
clearly connected to an understanding of children as vulnerables. As a child left to
his or her own device –without the protection of an adult carer –the vulnerability is
further enhanced. Because of the position as: 1. being in search of refuge, 2. being a
child and 3. being without carers Norway and Sweden has developed a specific
reception that aims to safeguard the interests of unaccompanied minors. Essential
to this construction is not the incidences that might have led the child to migrate in
the first place but the separation from parents and close relatives and the possible
damage that this might cause the unaccompanied asylum-seeking child. A
connection between childhood and child is also made clear and children as right
holders of a childhood. Factors damaging to the child are often narrated as the very
end to childhood.
Inherent understandings of “childhood” as a space separating adults from children
are also clearly operating. Ideas of adulthood versus childhood correspond to ideas
of maturity and chronological age. As a teenager the asylum-seeker instead are seen
as belonging to a fluid space between the child and the adult. The positioning of the
“teenager”, hence becomes a somewhat rather ambivalent and undecidable other.
The teenager becomes a figure of thought considered as more mature and more
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 71
competent than the child, yet still not as advanced as the adult. Important becomes
also the need to make distinctions between children, teenagers and adults. This also
constructs vulnerability as a concept with gradations: from the total vulnerability
and dependence of the small child to a space where the vulnerability is considered
as relative until adulthood where the subject reaches autonomy and independence.
This is clearly brought forward in the Norwegian (but also in the Swedish) practice:
By making divisions in-between different aged categories of children and by
connecting rights to the chronological age of the subject.
Underlying the different perceptions of age and vulnerability there is clearly also an
undertone of disbelief. According to the human rights convention the definition of a
refugee is someone who has a fear of prosecution because of religious beliefs,
political activities and or their sexual orientation. A refugee is hence clearly also
inherently defined as a political subject (See also Squire 2009). Being constructed as
a vulnerable subject and a deserving victim because of parental separation shifts a
focus from a space where the unaccompanied child could be viewed as an active
subject to a space where he/she instead becomes a passive object belonging or
dependent on his/her parents. The unaccompanied minor is constructed as not
really in essence a real refugee. In short Norwegian and Swedish authorities state
that very few of the unaccompanied minors have such well-founded asylum claims
as defined in the convention (ref). Instead unaccompanied minors and children are
given the right to reside in Sweden and Norway due to more overall humanitarian
considerations for compassionate reasons, such as the fact that their next of kin
cannot be traced. The unaccompanied minors right to reside is hence dependent on
the understanding on what constitutes a state of vulnerability.
According to both the Norwegian and the Swedish understanding, age is a central
part of identity, but also an important “personality trait” that reveals the truth to
whether or not the asylum-seeker is to be understood as a possible strategic adult
or a vulnerable child. If the asylum-seeker is judged to be “over-age” he/she loses
access to the extra benefits directed minors and is lifted from the category and
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 72
statistics and registers of unaccompanied children. But trying to pass as a child has
other rather fatal consequences: if the asylum-seeker is caught lying in regards to
his/hers status as a child this can weigh in negatively when judging the overall
asylum claims as well. If you are caught strategically lying about your identity, it
might be considered possible that you could be lying about something else (See for
instance UDI 2004/2008).
Age is in the Norwegian understanding clearly also constructed as a biological fact.
“The body” is constructed as an instrument that can reveal the real truth about
chronological age, better or more correctly than the asylum-seeker him- or her
selves. According to the UDI (2004/2008) the results of the biological age
assessment is even to be interpreted as more reliable than the possible deceitful
words from the asylum-seeker. According to Fassin (2005) there has been a change
of mode from a focus on refugee status to a situation where more and more asylumseekers are granted a stay (permanent or temporary) on humanitarian grounds.
Within this shift lies also a bio-politics where the “body” is valued as a truthrevealing device. Part of this shift is how the narratives or life stories told by the
asylum-seekers –such as a claim to be under 18 years of age- are considered as
more or less uncertain instruments (he or she could be lying). The other part of this
shift is interestingly how bodies on the other are viewed as able to verify the truth
either be it, as in Fassins case (2005) incurable diseases, or the indisputable status
as either a minor or an adult as in the case with the unaccompanied minors in
Norway. The need for more evidence based i.e. reliable measures and better agedetermination is clearly also expressed in the Swedish context, though still not in
use.
In Norwegian and Swedish the understanding of chronological age as the dividing
principal between the status as a child and as an adult is clearly also a contextualized
entity in practice. The implications of reaching “maturity” or 18 years of age is
highly dependent on the context of either still being in the asylum process or in the
process of integration. Depending on the contextualization the eighteen year old can
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 73
either be viewed as an possible and ambivalent (strategic?) adult and yet in the
other he/she can be viewed as a young -and hence vulnerable- adult in need of extra
supervision, care and support.
Unaccompanied minors are clearly framed as care related social problems by
Swedish and Norwegian authorities yet at the same time official representations
also come to legitimize different control and sanction strategies. Framed as a third
world issue, it is considered as an external problem hence also legitimizing
restrictive practices in order for the Norwegian and Swedish government to protect
its borders. As a child the asylum-seeker is constructed vulnerable and dependent
and in need of care and protection and as an adult he/she is considered independent
and agent, capable of autonomy and strategic thinking and excluded from the extra
benefits and support directed unaccompanied children. As a teenager the asylumseeker is constructed as a subject belonging to the fluid space between the child and
the adult. The teenager becomes an ambivalent and undecidable other: considered
as more mature and more competent than the child, yet not as advanced as the
adult.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 74
Chapter 5. The traumatized and exposed child (20 sidor)
A theme that is often lifted and highlighted in policy as well as in media narratives and
by claim makers concerns the unaccompanied asylum seeking minor as a traumatized
and exposed child. This imaging is often seen as one of many possible answers to the
sometimes seemingly puzzling question of why the children came to Sweden and
Norway in the first place?
Claim makers such as the Save the Children alliance, Ecpat and the ombudsman for
Children in Norway and Sweden as well as in Swedish and Norwegian newspaper
narratives, often do not construct the unaccompanied minor as active agents in regards
to their own migration schemes. Such conceptions are often instead underlined by
images of how a (biological) family is perceived as (for different and often unclear and
rather ambiguous reasons) initiating their children’s journey to Sweden and Norway.
Sometimes such actions are seen as legitimized by parents hoping for a better future for
their children. In other instances the sending away of children is rather perceived as a
possible strategy in order to facilitate a family unification process in Norway or Sweden
by using the child’s resident permit there as a point of entry.
Such ambiguities are also inherent in policy. Here the dread of the strategic parents is
expressed in regards to an image of the unaccompanied minor as a possible “anchor
child”.
According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child it is essential and in the best
interest of a separated child to be united with his/hers parents or next of kin. In order to
prevent “misuse” of the asylum system by families utilizing their child’s migration and
in order to assist family reunification. Norway and Sweden have invested in different
return policies. Family unification is hence considered important, but not necessarily on
Swedish or Norwegian soil.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 75
In this chapter the concept of the family is further deconstructed with reference to
unaccompanied children in Norwegian and Swedish policy and what kinds of
implications and consequences such understandings give.
Similar conceptions are also brought forward in regards to how the separation per see
often is conceived as what constitutes the biggest treat to unaccompanied children (See
also chapter 4.1). It is also brought forward in regards to a concept of a “home(land)” as
intrinsically a better place for the unaccompanied minor.
The focus on the active parents versus the passive child also brings forward a possible
silence in regards to children as asylum-seekers: Unaccompanied minors are often not
considered to have legitimate asylum claims. Their trauma is often considered as a
caused by the migration per see and of the unnaturalness of the separation from next of
kin.
The governing of the unaccompanied minors in regards to where they live and what
housing constructed as most rational are also important to address.
The unaccompanied child is often constructed in relation to an image of family and
parents and parenting. The child is constructed as a being in relation. How such notions
also become imbedded with images of ethnic belonging is central to the analysis.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 76
CHAPTER 6. THE MISSING CHILD – MEDIA NARRATIVES AND
NATIONAL CONCEPTUALIZATIONS (30 SIDOR)
In this chapter my first aim is to deconstruct the medial debate concerning
unaccompanied minors who vanish(ed) traceless from refugee centres in Norway and
Sweden and analyse how such incidences were made and re-categorized during critical
discursive moments during 2000 until the midst of 2008. My media sample consists of a
total of 170 newspaper articles retrieved from the four biggest newspapers in Norway
and Sweden during this period. My second focus is to study some official responses to
the claims made in the newspaper narratives and the suggestions or counter-claims
made by Swedish and Norwegian authorities in order to answer the accusations made
and raised by the media.
6.1. 2000 UNTIL 2005 –MISSING CHILDREN AND AMBIVALENT VICTIMS
Whilst doing my search on articles describing instances of “unaccompanied minors
missing from official registration”, I discovered that this issue was made and remade
rather parallel in Sweden and Norway: central to these stories were claims raised in
regards to the perceived lack of liability and responsibility of the Norwegian and the
Swedish Migration boards in regards to guarantee the safety and wellbeing of
unaccompanied minors. Other similarities was found in the way the issue of missing
asylum-seeking children became an entrance point in order to highlight the needs and
rights of unaccompanied minors on a political agenda but also in order to question the
accountability of the authorities in charge of unaccompanied minors.
Still some interesting differences were also evident in the material: For instance,
incidences of missing asylum-seeking children were highlighted with some recurrence
in Norwegian newspapers during 2000 until 2005, while it took until 2002 and specific
occurrences at the refugee centre Carlslund before cases of missing asylum-seeking
children was raised and articulated as a specific problem in the Swedish context. The
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 77
Carlslund incidence became a critical discursive moment in order to construct the
phenomenon of missing asylum-seeking children in regards to Swedish media.
Evident in both countries were the tendency to view missing asylum-seeking children in
regards to more general migration debate themes (i.e. “child brides”, “female genital
mutilation”, “culture-collision”, “bogus” asylum-seekers, “undocumented migration
flows” and “migration overflows”. See for instance Verdens Gang 2000, 88 asylbarn
savnet 00.12.16, Dagbladet 2000, Andres unger 00.10.01). Still three different
conceptualizations of the problem of asylum-seeking children going missing were
clearly evident.
In the period between 2000 until midst of 2005 Norwegian media articles were more
prone to frame incidences of missing unaccompanied children as 1. cases of missing
children, while the same incidences in Sweden from 2002 was viewed more in terms of
children in risk of 2. sexual exploitation and was related to a growing concern that
migrant children could be marketed to and through Sweden. From 2005 and onwards
stories of missing unaccompanied minors in both Norway and Sweden came to draw
more and more on a 3. trafficking and or smuggling theme and hence construct the
missing unaccompanied child as a possible victim of human trade: trafficked or smuggled
in order to be used as part of a hidden (slave) workforce on a black market. Narrations
drawing on vulnerability became articulated as comprehensible in regards to tales of
(different) ethnic, aged and gendered categories.
6.1.1 NORWAY – 2000 UNTIL 2005 THE MISSING ASYLUM (-SEEKING) CHILD AS A CASE OF A
MISSING CHILD
From the year 2000 instances of “asylum-seeking children” disappearing from the
refugee centres was featured with some recurrence in Norwegian newspapers (See for
instance Verdens Gang 2000, 88 asylbarn savnet. 00.12.16 and Verdens Gang 2000,
Møter seg selv i døra. 00.12.17, Aftenposten 2003 Rekordmange barn søker asyl 03.01.27
and Dagbladet 2000, Andres unger. 00.10.01). These articles highlighted episodes of
“unaccompanied children” that had gone missing from refugee-centres/facilities in
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 78
Norway. Narrations that come to dwell on the fact that nor the police, nor the Norwegian
board of Migration, nor anyone, seemed to do anything substantial to investigate such
disappearances.
I løpet av de første ni månedene i fjor forsvant 65 enslige mindreårige fra mottakene.
Samfunnet må gjøre en like stor innsats for å finne disse barna, som andre barn som
forsvinner. (Aftenposten 2003, Rekordmange barn søker asyl. 03.01-27)
Sometimes this was considered as a consequence of it simply being too easy for an adult
to “pick up a child” from the centres, by pretending to be next of kin (Verdens Gang
2000, Møter seg selv i døra. 00.12.17, Dagbladet 2000, Andres unger 00.11.10 and
Dagbladet 2000, Andres unger. 00.10.01), at other times the disappearance per see is
described in terms of an unresolved mystery (“Nobody knows where they vent or what
has happened to them”).
88 enslige mindreårige asylsøkere har hittil i år forsvunnet fra norske asylmottak. Ingen
vet hvor de er blitt av, og ingen leter etter dem. Redd Barna frykter at asylbarna involveres
i kriminell aktivitet eller prostitusjon, og krever at UDI og politiet finner ut hvor barna er
blitt av. (...) (Verdens Gang 2000, 88 asylbarn savnet. 00.12.16)
In the narrative presented in the extract above the (underage) “minor asylum-seeker” is
constructed as a case of a vulnerable “missing child”. According to Best (1990) “missing
children” per see was framed as one of the 20th centuries most important social
problems leading to vital policy constructions in order to safeguard children. 27
Important in this claims making process has been to point to the vulnerability of
children as a group instead of stressing the possible differences between them. “Missing
children” has become known and understood as (possible) victims of a specific and
recognisable social problem.
In the extract above the process of “people production” or the assigning of victim status
to some people (yet not to others, see also Loseke 1993:207) is in the Norwegian
27 By “missing children” I here refer to the instance of
runaways, custodial snatchings and stranger
kidnappings that Best (1990) sees as part of the American “missing children” concept and that were
constructed as a coherent social problem during the 1960ties until the 1980ties. Even though Bests (Ibid)
study focus on the American context, it probably do reflect parallel attention and action directed
preventive measures in order to safeguard in European public awareness (during the same time period).
Cases of “missing underage asylum-seekers” did not constitute part of the “missing children” problem
when it was initially formulated as a social problem.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 79
newspaper narration played out or brought forward by the NGO Save the Children
Norway. Quoted while demanding mediate action in regards of missing asylum-seeking
children, Save the children is constructed as the only subject who really does care and
believes there is reason to fear that these “missing children” are at risk, endangering
either prostitution or criminal activities. It is highlighted that nobody seems to care
since the missing child at hand is an asylum-seeking child and not a missing Norwegian
child or that the child at hand is a “brown child” instead of a Norwegian looking “white
child” (See for instance Dagbladet 2000, Andres unger. 00.10.01), hence indicating that
the Norwegian treatment of unaccompanied minors could have a discriminating bias in
regards to unaccompanied asylum-seekers. It is assumed that the probable number of
“missing asylum-seeking children” cases are increasing (so far a total number of 88 or
64) children have disappeared traceless indicating an outrage at the lack of interest in
“missing asylum-seeking children”. “Children” as such is to be seen as children foremost
and migrants second (See also parallel articles and claims made in British media by
Christine Beddoe and Ecpat ) and is hence entitled to the same treatment and care that
every other (Norwegian) child receives. Underlined in this construction is a perspective
of a Norwegian society that by neglecting the faiths of asylum children (sic.) risks
endangering its own self-perception as one of the world’s most child friendly countries
in the world (See Dagbladet 2000 Andres unger. Dagbladet 2001, Gatebarn søker kjendis.
01.10.28). It is also a somewhat “entitlement based claim”, were children’s rights as
children are being stressed (See Meyer 2007: 88 and Lidén and Vitus 2009).
According to Gullestad (1997) there consists a strong connection between the
Norwegian national identity construction and the caring for children and children’s
rights. “Children” in the national narration are perceived as intrinsically different from
adults, as on the one hand active and independent (small) agents, but yet also on the
other hand as irreplaceable, valuable and innocent beings. Belonging in or close to
nature, playing about in trees and or in the wilderness of the Norwegian outdoors,
children are considered both creative and imaginative but yet also vulnerable (See also
Aries 1960/1970 and Cunningham 2005 for the historical construction of children as
vulnerable innocents). Intrinsically such an understanding of children and childhood
shifts focus from potential differences in-between children (for instance gendered,
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 80
ethnic or class related difference) and puts a strong emphasis on children as a group28
constructed as an binary opposition to grown-ups or adults. Such views come to balance
and negotiate between a more “rights based” discourse of children versus a discourse
that’s foregrounds “innocence” (Meyer 2007:88). Children are sometimes seen as active
agents but they are parallel (and Meyer argues that this is still most often the case) also
as passive objects. This also stresses the adult society as responsible for the wellbeing
and safety of children; doing things for and to children. (See for instance Dagbladet
2001, Gatebarn søker kjendis 01.10.28 and Dagbladet 2004 Barn som søker asyl
2004.10.29). By claiming that every unaccompanied asylum child belong to the category
of children, a strong claim is made both in regards to their rights as well as society’s
direct obligations towards them.
Incidences of missing asylum-seeking children become in the Norwegian newspaper
narration an angle of incidence to put the needs of migrant children on the political
agenda. As a child the asylum child is to be given optimal developmental and
environmental conditions (like any other Norwegian child). Evident in the calls for action
in regards to unaccompanied minors is the ambivalence between how on the one hand
the refugee-centre per see is not considered as an optimal environment for a child
(Aftenposten 2002, To voksne passer 86 asylungdommer 2002.09.17, Aftenposten 2002
28 This is by no means to say that this is an exclusively Norwegian representation. The construction of
“children” as a group essentially different from grown ups is clearly also evident in for instance Swedish
popular images of children. See for instance Astrid Lindgrens “Madicken”, “Vi på Saltkråkan”, “Emil i
Lönneberga” and “Pippi”-books for a similar perception of children as creative and imaginary creatures
engaging in innocent play outdoors and also Beppe Wolgers popular lyrics “The enigmatic people” for
further examples of such an construction.
Det gåtfulla folket - Barn är ett folk och dom bor i ett främmande land,
detta land är ett regn och en pöl.
Över den pölen går pojkarnas båtar ibland,
och dom glider så f int utan köl.
Där går en flicka, som samlar på stenar,
hon har en miljon.
Kungen av träd sitter stilla bland grenar
i trädkungens tron
Där går en pojke som skrattar åt snö.
Där går en flicka som gjorde en ö av femton kuddar.
Där går en pojke och allting blir glass som han snuddar.
Alla är barn och dom tillhör det gåtfulla folket.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 81
Redd barna vill ha dugnad før asylbarn. 02.09.05) -as intrinsically belonging to the
outdoors and creative and imaginative playfulness in the free under loving parental
scrutiny- yet how on the other hand how the unknown faith of the missing children is of
equal concern as nobody knows the whereabouts of them. (See also chapter Chapter 4.
The traumatized and exposed child, for a thorough discussion concerning how
ambivalent unaccompanied minors living with extended family members are viewed in
Norwegian and Swedish discourse.) The Norwegian society –the adult society- is obliged
to protect them –the unaccompanied minors- from the possible dangers of criminality or
prostitution incidences that is constructed as something of external origin, something
that the missing asylum-seeking children could endanger on the outside of the asylumcentre.29
Calls for action in order to make the unaccompanied asylum-seeking children “safe”
from harm often come to stress transference of legal responsibility from the Migration
board towards the social services. Voices in the Norwegian context also work to
highlight “unaccompanied minors” as a case of an “orphan” i.e. a case of a child for whom
out of different reasons the State has a specific set of obligations. This discussion circles
around the cost of having an orphan in care versus the cost of having a young
unaccompanied minor in the care of the Norwegian Migration Board (Ref), hence
indicating that the Norwegian State treats unaccompanied minors differently from
Norwegian children.
29 Prostitution or criminal activities
are often constructed as the more downfallen parts of a modern urban
life and are hence often viewed as the binary opposition to the construction of the countryside.
Intrinsically in the Norwegian national narration is a representation of the countryside as a safe heaven
for kids away from the lure and dangers of city life. The optimal developmental environment is often
intrinsically perceived as synonymous with the possibility to playfully and freely explore the countryside
and gain access to enough “fresh air”. See also Gullestad 1997 for a parallel discussion in regards to how
the national narrative on children and childhood is rather opposed by how modern Norwegian urban life
has come to force children to stay more and more on the “inside” (i.e. in the home or in so called “school
leisure programs”) as opposed to being outdoors, in order to keep them safe from the possible dangers of
strangers or playing close to trafficked streets.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 82
6.1.2 SWEDEN -2002 THE CARSLUND SCANDAL AND THE MISSING ASYLUM -SEEKING CHILD
AS AN EXPLOITED CHILD
During the early winter of 2002 a headline in the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet stated
that “87 children had vanished without a trace”. (Aftonbladet, 2002; 87 barn spårlöst
försvunna. 2002-01-20). The article contained a list of the nationality, age and date vent
missing of unaccompanied minors30 who had vanished from the Carlslund and from
other refugee centres in Sweden since 2000. These disappearances where narrated
rather distinct from the Norwegian conceptions: Whereas the Norwegian media framed
missing unaccompanied minors as “missing-children” and “children” per see as a group,
a foregrounding of the gender and the specific ethnicity of the unaccompanied minors
that went missing were articulated in the Swedish narration. The stories were also more
strongly focused on the particular context of the “Carslund premises”31 and specific
episodes that had happened there.
The incidences at the Carlslund asylum centre and the debate these inspired served as a
critical discursive moment and point of reference in the Swedish articulation of missing
asylum-seeking children. (The Carlslund scandal also came to colour of on the
Norwegian debate bringing with it a little bit of a different focus. See for instance
Aftenposten 2002, Selvmordsforsøk og mistanke om barneprostitusjon i fulle asylmottak.
02.02.10)
Hundratals ensamma flyktingbarn kommer till Sverige varje år. En del skickas som
"ankarbarn" så att övriga familjen kan komma senare. Under senare år har en ny grupp
vuxit fram: barn som kommer hit för att användas i sexhandeln. - Vi har i
förundersökningar hittat minderåriga, barn, som har hämtats till Sverige enbart för att
utnyttjas i prostitution, säger Kajsa Wahlberg på Rikskriminalpolisen. De fall som blivit
kända omfattar fem minderåriga. En av dem, en 16-årig flicka från Litauen, levde under så
The list in Aftonbladet consisted of 59 such missing children (See Aftonbladet 87 barn spårlöst
försvunna. 2002-01-20).
30
31
Carlslund was a special refugee reception centre for unaccompanied minors arriving to the Stockholm region.
It was closed on the xxxx.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 83
hårda förhållanden att hon drevs till självmord i Malmö i början av 2000. (Aftonbladet
2002 87 barn spårlöst försvunna. 02.01.20)32
In the narrative presented in Aftonbladet (2002.01.20) a scandal of unaccompanied
refugee children that had disappeared without a trace is brought to light. The children
have either been sent to Sweden or they have been recruited directly from the refugee
centre to be exploited in prostitution. The narrative connects the issue of vanishings to
what was sometimes articulated as a steady flow (or “hundreds”) of children or
sometimes seen as a dramatic increase of children that according to Aftonbladet (ibid)
arrives by themselves to Sweden every year (See also Dagens Nyheter 2002 Lång
utredning knäcker barnen 02.06.03, Dagens Nyheter 2002 BO anser att samhället smiter
från ansvaret, 02.06.03 Dagens Nyheter 2002,“Obegripligt älta om resurser. 02.06.03).
Because of this increase the facilities –i.e. the Swedish reception of unaccompanied
minors- designed to cater this specific group of asylum seekers simply could not carry
the “burden”.
In the extract quoted above from the Aftonbladet (2002, 87 barn spårlöst försvunna.
02.01.20) we learn that many of the so called “unaccompanied children” simply are to be
considered as “anchor children”, sent away by parents hoping to get an residence permit
in Sweden on the grounds of kinship ties to the child. (The “anchor-children” are not to
be understood as “orphans” nor as “refugees”, but rather as “economical migrants” in
search for a better life in the West. (See chapter 4. “The traumatized and exposed child”
for a more thorough discussion of this specific representation). In comparison to this
older or intrinsically perceived as a more normalised form of child migration is the
increasing group of minors –originating from Eastern European countries– that are
“picked up” and then “sent” to Sweden in order to be abused in prostitution (See also
Aftenposten 2002, Selvmordsforsøk og mistanke om barneprostitusjon i fulle asylmottak.
02.02.10) or become part of a hidden (sex) slave workforce.
The incidence with the girl who committed suicide in Malmö was a narrative that later inspired the
Swedish movie director Moodyson to produce the movie Lilja-4ever , about a young abandoned girl who
driven into forced prostitution in Sweden came take her own life in order to escape her terrible ordeal.
32
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 84
In the following days Aftonbladet and other Swedish newspapers made sequels of
articles that focused on the fate of the Carlslund youngsters, revealing what was claimed
to be rather stressful conditions there.33 The misfortune of the minors were linked to
the dramatic lack of capacity at the Carlsund premises and to how prolonged asylum
processes created unbearable conditions for unaccompanied minors (See for instance
Dagens Nyheter 2002 Lång utredning knäcker barnen 02.06.03). More often the missing
Carlslund children were narrated in regards to migrants being “smuggled” into Sweden,
hence linking it directly to more overall themes in European temporary migration
debate (See Hansen 2008, for a discussion on how themes such as “smuggling” or
“trafficking” has come to colour off on the asylum-debate in contemporary Europe).
A mass influx of abandoned children arriving from the Eastern European countries (or
from a former “Sovjet republic”) was constructed as a novel challenge, “they are picked
up and sent to Sweden solely to engage in prostitution” or are simply “smuggled in” (See
for instance Expressen 2002 Flyktingpojkar misstänks tvingas in i prostitution. 02.02.10,
Aftonbladet 2002, “17-åring: Alla vet hur lätt det är att sälja sin kropp”. 02.01.20,
Aftonbladet 2002 Asylsökande barn I prostitutionshärva. 02.02.09). These children had
been “left” in the care of the Swedish Migration board. There are certain “signals”
alerting to how “things are not as they should be”. In this narration it is also made clear
that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children as such are conceived as passive objects,
which can easily be “dumped” or picked out of the refugee centre by (adult) strangers or
simply “vanish” or passively end up in prostitution. This construction is parallel to the
discourse of innocence and the understanding of children as essentially “innocent
beings” and hence in need of protection from adults (See also Meyer 2007). They are
constructed as unintentional victims of cruel faiths (See also Miller and Vitus 2009).
I
vintras
rapporterades
om
hur
dåligt
ensamkommande
barn
mår
på
flyktingförläggningarna. En del hamnar i prostitution. Vissa försöker begå självmord. Ett
33 “Hon
tvingades att sälja sex” (Aftonbladet, 2002-01-21), “17-åring: Alla vet hur lätt det är att sälja sin
kropp” (Aftonbladet, 2002-01-20), ”Ministern: Detta chockar mig, jag ska kontakta Rikskriminalen”
(Aftonbladet, 2002-01-21) "Socialen måste ta ansvar för de ensamma barnen" (Aftonbladet, 2002-01-23),
”Självmordsförsök även på andra slussar för flyktingar” (Aftonbladet, 2002-02-11). Other newspapers
such as the Expressen did also write sequels on the Carlsund episode and the article “Flyktingpojkar
misstänks tvingas in i prostitution” (Expressen, 2002-02-10) took up on the Aftonbladet lead describing
the terrible conditions at Carlslund.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 85
flertal försvinner spårlöst. Under 2001 försvann 69 barn från förläggningar. I maj i år var
48 fortfarande försvunna. Det finns stor risk att vissa hamnar i sexhandel. Dessutom är det
lätt att hämta ut ett barn från en förläggning. Det räcker med ID-kort och en adress för att
gå därifrån med ett okänt barn. (Göteborgs Posten 2002 Flyktingbarnen nonchaleras.
Ecpat/ Helena Karlén contributing to the debate 02.11.06)
At Carlslund, there are also a specific narrative of two boys who been observed whilst
leaving the centre at “odd times a day”, being picked up by cars and who has come back
to the centre in the middle of the night. Afterwards the boys “have taken long showers”
which, could be indicating that they want to wash themselves clean and they are
“suddenly” in possession of money. (See Expressen 2002, Flyktingpojkar misstänks
tvingas in i prostitution. 02.02.10) Though the story is rather speculative as it somewhat
intrinsically indicates a “rape narrative” (“washing one selves clean of shame” or money
as a possible exchange for sexual services. See also Loseke 2001 for a discussion
concerning the constructing of so-called formula stories.) The situation at Carslund is
acute: children have been trying to commit suicide, another girl has allegedly been raped
and the unaccompanied minors are in a terrible state of mind (See Aftonbladet 2002;
“Hon tvingades att sälja sex”. 02.01.21, “17-åring: Alla vet hur lätt det är att sälja sin
kropp”. 02.01.20), ”Ministern: Detta chockar mig, jag ska kontakta Rikskriminalen”. 02.0121, "Socialen måste ta ansvar för de ensamma barnen". 02.01-23, and Självmordsförsök
även på andra slussar för flyktingar. 02.02.11.)34 The asylum-seeking children are
constructed as in-risk of sexual abuse or as harmed children.
Oftast kommer de minderåriga utan vare sig pass eller andra id-handlingar och hävdar
anknytning till någon. Denna person kan lika gärna vara en hallick. Flickorna själva
berättar sällan något. De är ofta så nedbrutna av hot, misshandel och våldtäkter att de inte
vågar öppna sig för de svenska myndigheterna. (Expressen 2003, De tvingas sälja sex.
03.11.18)
34 Parallel
to the Carlslund debate the Lukas Moodysson movie Lilja 4-ever had its release by late autumn
2002. The film tells the tragic tale of the young Eastern European girl Lilja, who is trafficked to Sweden for
prostitution and who later commits suicide in order to escape her terrible ordeal. This film gave much fuel
to the ongoing trafficking debate in Sweden as well as Europe in general and has in many ways been
influential in constructing a formula story of “trafficking” in the public debate (See also Stretmo 2006
unpublished, for similar findings.). The Lilja narrative is interesting to see also in regards to the
discussions in the wake of the Carlslund ordeal and the conceptualizations of the possible “dangers”
threatening “unaccompanied children”.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 86
Even though the Expressen (2002) highlighted how Eastern-European boys endanger
sexual abuse, the accounts of the “vanishing children” at Carlslund, but also in other
parallel stories in the aftermath of the Carlsund scandal (see for instance the extract
from Expressen 2003 above), were often made more explicit in regards to underlying
gendered concepts: where girls often were constructed as more vulnerable than boys.
Gender was also an important factor when establishing the kind of danger the missing
child might be objected to. Girls were seen as endangering sexual abuse and being forced
to prostitute, whilst the boys to a greater extent were constructed as possibly being used
for criminal activities.
The narrative of “unaccompanied children disappearing” were clearly constructed as
connected to the lack of resources at Carlslund (or other facilities for unaccompanied
minors, see for instance Göteborgs Posten 2002 Misstänkta fall i Göteborg - "Jag har haft
flera fall där barn kan ha sexutnyttjats". 02.02.24) the need for more staff, a quicker
asylum processes as well as a call for action in regards to the Swedish migration boards
perceived lack of (proper) supervision (See for instance Göteborgs Posten 2002
Flyktingbarn ska få en fadder - Förbättringar för de ensamma barnen utlovas efter debatt i
riksdagen.
Göteborgs
Posten
2003
Ohållbar
situation
för
barn
utan
uppehållstillstånd.03.09.24, Expressen 2002, Flyktingbarnen: Kommunen hjälpte inte till
var rädd för grannerna. 02.02.11). Some of these claims clearly connects to a
foregrounding of children’s rights as children (jmf the Norwegian framing of missing
asylum-seeking children as a case of “missing children”), where the intolerable situation
for children living in over-crowded refugee centres were constructed as inappropriate
and offensive environment for children and youngsters. Parallel to this conception calls
were made in order to appoint a “god man” or ”legal guardian” for all unaccompanied
minors. Rather equal to the Norwegian newspapers the transference of the social
dimension of unaccompanied minors from the Swedish Board of Migration to the local
municipalities were also understood as a possible prerogative in order to safeguard
unaccompanied minors. Such action was deemed as necessary in order to secure
“unaccompanied asylum-seeking children” from risk. Still (and also in concordance with
the Norwegian articulation) the threats and endangering situations were conceived as
stemming from the outside of the premises and hence a call for stricter “control” over
unaccompanied children in order to keep them safe and even to have unaccompanied
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 87
minors DNA tested in order to avoid that they were “picked out” of the refugee centre by
someone falsely claiming to be next of kin, where parallel also seen as proper solutions
(See also Göteborgs Posten 2002; Misstänkta fall i Göteborg - "Jag har haft flera fall där
barn kan ha sexutnyttjats". 02.02.24, Aftonbladet 2003; "DNA-tester kan stoppa handeln".
03.11.18, Aftonbladet 2003; Flyktingbarn får inte DNA testas. 03.12.21).
The unaccompanied minors in the awakening of the Carslund scandal are constructed as
a “child in risk of sexual exploitation”. According to Ariès (1962), Cunningham (1995),
Jenks (1996) and Meyer (1997) the discourse of the ”innocent child” that emerged with
Romanticism, constructed children as inherently virtuous and nearly angelic beings in
need of (parental or adult) protection. (This perception of children and of childhood
replaced and opposed the earlier view of the child as an inherently evil being –i.e.
“original sin”- and hence in need of being disciplined and punished.) This perceived
innocence were seen as especially in need of protection from polluted adult practices
such as sexuality. (See also Foucault 2002). According to Meyer (1997) it’s a
representation of “innocence” and “the passive child” that continues to dominate official
understandings and conceptualizations of instances such as paedophilia and sexual
abuse. This claim is a powerful one as it suggests permanent and irreversible damage to
the child’s very being if the child becomes exposed to adult sexuality. Sexual abuse is
often being narrated as the “end to childhood” (Meyer 1997:95) and as a social problem,
“sexual abuse” is turned or transgressed into a moral issue.
In comparison to the Norwegian narration of “missing-children”, the Swedish
newspaper narrations focus more on the possible faiths of damaged or sexually
exploited children. Whereas the Norwegian storyline frames “unaccompanied minors”
as a case of “any other child” and hence makes a call for action in this regard, the
Swedish narration tend to highlight the specific ethnic and gendered traits of the
asylum-seeking child (a process of othering?) and how and why the child ended up in
Sweden in the first place. The issue of “missing asylum-seeking children” hence become
a narrative more strongly connected to the possible faiths endangering unaccompanied
children as migrants, rather as making a call for action in regards to their status as a case
of “any” child.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 88
6.1.3 IN NORWAY AND SWEDEN – 2005 “DISAPPEARING ASYLUM -SEEKING CHILDREN AS A
CASE OF TRAFFICKING ” OR SMUGGLING
During 2005 and onwards rather parallel narratives focusing on disappearing Chinese
children become prime focus in the Norwegian and Swedish newspapers. The
newspapers articles made the issue of “missing asylum-seeking children” synonymous
with incidences of missing Chinese youngsters.
During the November 2005 the Scandinavian newspapers ran sequels about instances of
Chinese children travelling to Norway and Sweden (and also to and through Denmark)
as unaccompanied minors in order to claim asylum there. Within a very short period of
time these Chinese children “vanished”. Narrations of these incidences often came to
dwell on the specific operation of the Chinese children: How they all had travelled by
plane (using China airways) from China, what kind of luggage and amount of money they
were in possession of, the clothes they wore, whether they had mobile phones with
them etc. These pieces were framed together as constituent parts of a bigger picture:
the similarity between episodes pointing to a possible modus operandi. 35
Samtidig er det åpenbart at organiserte kriminelle står bak transporten av asylsøkerbarn
til Norge. Ifølge et internt notat fra Nye Kripos skal det være flere bevis på at kriminelle
står bak transporten av asylsøkerbarna til Norge, og de påfølgende forsvinningene. De
kinesiske barna som kommer til Skandinavia, skal være tilnærmet likt kledd.
35
See also Danish newspapers for a similar framing of missing unaccompanied minors as
possible smuggled or traffckied migrants: Kinabørnene er kommet i grupper på tre-fire
personer. De ankom med falske pas fra Hongkong, hvorfra der ikke kræves visum, og
rejseruten gik for dem alle over Moskva. Børnene var forsynet med mobiltelefoner, som de
fik instrukser gennem, og de afgav enslydende forklaringer. Og lige pludselig forsvandt de
fra centrene. »Vi gik til politiet, fordi vi frygtede det værst tænkelige: Misbrug af børnene«,
siger Jørgen Chemnitz. (...)Der er altså intet, der tyder på, at børnene er blevet bortført. Og
børnene er tilsyneladende heller ikke bange for at komme videre til næste
bestemmelsessted. Det kan være, fordi de stoler på at blive godt modtaget, men det kan
også være, at de ikke ved, hvad der venter dem. »Det ville hjælpe os, hvis børnene selv ville
fortælle. Men det vil de ikke«, siger Johnny Lundberg. (Politiken 2005, Kineserbørn:
Kinabørn på mellemlanding mod uvis fremtid. 05.12.27)
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 89
Asylsøkerbarna er også utstyrt med like reisesekker. De har med seg mobiltelefoner og
rundt 10 000 kroner i kontanter. I det samme notatet som Dagbladet har fått tilgang på,
heter det flere barn skal ha forsvunnet fra Sverige. (Dagbladet 2005, UDI anmelder ikke
forsvinningene. 05.11.30.)
Vi misstänker att de båda har en betydande roll i ett nätverk för människohandel och vi
utesluter inte fler gripanden, säger Bo Larsson. Ungdomarna har anlänt utan
resehandlingar eller med falska resehandlingar och uppgivit att de är under 18 år, vilket
troligen majoriteten av dem också är. De lämnar mycket knapphändiga uppgifter om sig
själva och sitt ursprung om ens några. De kommer med likartad utrustning och klädsel och
lika mycket pengar. (Expressen 2005, Stockholmspar anhållet för att ha smugglat barn.
05.11.26)
The “Chinese child” is not personified by any name (real or false) or individualized by
any personal history. Typically they are highlighted as just being “Chinese children” or a
“China-youth” and it is stressed that their “presence” in either Sweden or Norway is the
result of people-smugglers or human-traffickers utilizing the asylum-system.
The representation of the “China children” is interesting to view in accordance with
popular images of East Asians in European/Western popular culture. According to Les
Back (1996), Mac An Ghaill (1994), Connolly (1994) and Hübinette (2005) there is a
tendency in popular belief to feminise East Asian men and boys and parallel also to oversexualise or erotize East-Asian women and girls. Hence constructing the East-Asian boys
or Eastern masculinity(ies) as weaker, more silent and more obedient than “European/
Western masculinity(ies)” and hence less manly. Common images of East Asian women
and girls are the representation of the “China doll”, the “Lotus flower” or the “Geisha
girl” (skilled in Asian ancient sex arts, See also Said 1979: 207 for a discussion on how
oriental women have been featured as the centre of European men’s power-fantasies
and presented as expressing “unlimited sensuality”) but also in the narrative of for
instance Puccinis Madama Butterfly. Sometimes East-Asian women and girls have been
considered submissive, docile, obedient femininities, sometimes good-hearted - but
helpless and in need of rescue- victims of sex trade or war or oppression. Yet at other
times the Asian feminine is synonymous with a disloyal, coquettish and manipulative
femininity. Characteristically in the missing “China children” representation of Swedish
and Norwegian newspapers is instead how the kids are described as rather genderless
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 90
and uniform. It is instead the likeness of their appearance –wearing similar clothes, a
backpack etc.- that is brought forward. 36 Even though the kids appear to be
“desexualized” a sexual vulnerability is often still implied. Other elements parallel to the
popular image is also clearly stressed: The children are constructed as obediently
following instructions given by “unknown” traffickers/criminals and it is pointed out
that they seem to “lack the will” or interest to cooperate with the official authorities.
They do not expose or give any information regarding their further plans, or the police
(or the authorities mistrust the information that the children actually chose to give
them).
It can be interesting to view the representation or image of East-Asians that lies implicit
in the tale of the missing Chinese children as intrinsically more collectively oriented
compared to more individualistically oriented Europeans (see ref). This also points to an
ambivalent double exposure; one the one hand the children are seen as compliant and
submissive to their smugglers/traffickers but yet on the other hand as somewhat
untrustworthy; showing us (the westerners, the border police and Migrations Board
officers) a smiling face whilst simultaneously holding their real intentions hidden (see
also Said 1979 for such ambivalent understandings). What becomes clearly evident is
that the narrative of the missing unaccompanied minor has been given a specific ethnic
frame. The missing kids are understood as first and foremost as Chinese. Risks and
dangers are clearly also indicated in relation to the specific ethnic frame: Whilst the
eastern European kids (in the Carslund narrative) were considered as endangering a life
in either forced prostitution or criminality, the missing Chinese children are more often
narrated as in risk of being smuggled or trafficked to Europe in order to feed a hungry
black market hungry for cheap and flexible (child) labour. (jmf. the industrious and
cunning hands of East-Asian workers). Sometimes sexual vulnerability is also implied.
The narratives are clearly at the one hand connected to popular formula stories of
trafficking of migrants: by force of treat or by concealing the real purpose of the
36
This image clearly is associated to a collectively oriented ”Maos China” with a people of men and women
uniformed in similarly looking “ Mao tunic suits” (or the so called Zhongshan zhuang costume) and unisex
haircuts.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 91
migration from the migrant, his or her autonomy become curtailed in the hands of cruel
and brutal traffickers who take advantage of the migrants exposed situation as
undocumented migrants (see Aradau 2008 and Stretmo unpublished). They are brought
forward as victims of rather tragic circumstances (Miller and Vitus 2009:) that passively
receives instructions per mobile phone what to do next. This image is also parallel to the
discourse of innocence where children are seen as passive entities and where adults on
the contrarily are constructed as doing thing to and for them (See Meyer 2007). In the
narrative of the “Chinese children” these adults are often described as faceless yet evil
perpetrators such as smugglers or human traffickers.
Still the storyline also ambivalently mix instances of trafficking narratives with
narratives of smuggling, hence sometimes constructing the unaccompanied China child
as actively (a possible economic migrant?) searching for a better life in the West: As
rather “go-lucky” as in contrast to “scared and frightened” and eager to continue their
further journey. There clearly is a double exposure in the representation of the “Chinese
children” as smuggled but parallel also as a possible “trafficked victim”.
Sequels of the “missing Chinese Children” were featured in Swedish and Norwegian
newspapers during the 2005 and onwards in a similar way. These narrations were often
framed together as entrance points in order to highlight specific needs of
“unaccompanied minors” at large (living conditions in refugee centres etc.) Often such
narrations came to focus on “missing asylum-seekers” as instances of how different
ethnic features made migrant children endanger different kids of abuse (See for instance
Expressen (2006) Regeringen vill försvåra barnsmuggling 06-05- 17 Expressen (2006)
Kinesiskt par dömt till fängelse för barnsmuggling 06-06-09 Göteborgs-Posten (2006)
Barbro Holmberg: Så kan smuggling av barn stoppas 06-05-17, Dagbladet (2007)
Kinesiske barn stikker av fra asyl. 07-07-01 Verdens Gang (2006) and Verdens Gang
(2006) Asylbarn drar fra Danmark til Norge 06-05-24).
The tales of “unaccompanied minors who go missing without a trace” are represented as
vivid and striking destinies. There is a clear and central victim focus, as the
“unaccompanied minor” is constructed as a passive entity in the hands of wicked
traffickers or smugglers. “Migration” as such is constructed as an anomaly and children
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 92
travelling by themselves are considered as extremely vulnerable. Yet the unaccompanied
minors are parallel not framed as entities “on their own”, the responses and calls for
action often take (naïve) parents, the traffickers or smugglers, possibly lurking behind
the scenes, into the account.
After 2005 the issue of “Chinese youths” coloured of on the way issues of “vanishings”
were understood in both Norway and Sweden. A link was established between
trafficking/smuggling and “vanishing unaccompanied minors” in the Scandinavian
context and “missing asylum-seeking children” became framed as possible victims of
trafficking or children being smuggled in. Instead of being an issue in connection to the
social problem of “missing-children” (see Best 1990), incidences of missing asylumseeking children was understood as related to irregular forms of migration –i.e. a
migration problem- and the fact that there could be a “market” where children are
purchased as goods.
Det er forferdelig at de fortsatt er borte. En ting er bakmennene, men kjernen i dette er at
det er et marked for det. Det finnes ressurssterke mennesker som betaler for barn.
Bekkemellem (Barnminister) ønsker kartlagt hvordan barna kunne komme hit på den
måten de gjorde. De kom alene, ustyrt med mobiltelefoner og kontakt med smuglere.
Statsråden vil også sørge for evaluering av alle offentlige etater som var involvert etter
forsvinningene. Det gjelder å koordinere politi, barnevern, helsestasjoner, skoler og
asylmottak i dette arbeidet. - Vi må ha en agenda for hva som skal gjøres når slike
situasjoner oppstår. Og vi må ha høyt trykk på dette problemet. Norge er ikke lenger
skånet, sier hun. (Aftenposten 2006 Færre asylbarn. 06.03.07)
According to this rationale the “market for children” is interestingly constructed as an
evil stemming from the “outside”, from which the nation (in this extract Norway) is no
longer spared. A call is hence made regarding more coordinated actions between social
services, schools, Migrations boards and the police and so forth in order to safeguard
children. Meyer (2007) claims that when issues such as “paedophilia” and “sexual
abuse” were constructed as social problems Western European countries came to view
them with ambivalence and as phenomenon’s rather peripheral to modernity. In the
extract above “A market for the purchase of children” is clearly constructed as
something of foreign origin –Norway is no longer spared- yet it is also ambivalently
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 93
connected to the “inside” and economical resourceful people (Norwegians?) paying
them (ressurssterke mennesker som betaler for barn).
6.2. PICTURES OF VOLUNTARY VERSUS INVOLUNTARILY DISAPPEARANCES - NATIONAL
CONCEPTUALIZATIONS AND RESPONSES TO THE MEDIAL CALLS FOR ACTION
The media narrations came to demand liability from the authorities presumed to be in
charge of unaccompanied minors. In Norway the issue of asylum-seeking children led to
a public demonstration January 2008 and a call for mediate action from the Norwegian
minister of justice Knut Storberget (Ap) (See ref,ref) . Even though it seems rather
evident that the issue of missing asylum-seeking children was more clearly visual in
medial narration than it was evident in national policy, reports or other official
conceptualizations of unaccompanied minors, still some reports and investigations were
made by Swedish and Norwegian authorities in order to get a grip of the scale and
extension to the problem of “vanishing minors”: The Swedish board of Migration made a
thorough review of cases were unaccompanied minors had gone missing in the
aftermath of the Carslund scandal (Migrationsverket 2003, Genomgång av ärenden där
ensamkommande asylsökande ungdomar avvikit under år 2002. 2003-10-20, N-11-200318696) and the Norwegian Ministry of Justice made a similar assessment of missing
asylum-seeking children 2008 (Justis og politideartementet 2008; Mindreårige som
forsvinner fra mottak – Forebygging og oppklaring. April 20089). Other answers to the
on-going media debate have been in the form of press releases, but also in the form of
circulation papers and guidelines and also in an explicit plan of action regarding the
handling of unaccompanied minors who goes missing from asylum centres in the
Stockholm region (See for instance The Swedish Police in Stockholm/Border police
2008, Gemensam handlingsplan gällande hanteringen av ensamkommande asylsökande
barn och ungdomar som reser in via Arlanda och avviker eller riskerar avvika från
kommunala boenden. Gränspolisavdelningen Polismyndigheten i Stockholms län 200801-18 and UDI 1999, Melde- og ansvarsrutiner i forbindelse med barns ankomst og
opphold i statlige mottak. RS 1999-009. Saksnummer: 98/1686. 8 mars 1999 and UDI
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 94
2010, Krav til varsling og oppfølging når enslige mindreårige forsvinner fra statlige
mottak. RS 2010-153, Saksnummer: 09/3412, 11. januar 2010/ 26. april 2011).
In regards to the media or newspaper narratives the authorities had some different
ways of conceptualizing instances of disappearing unaccompanied minors. One of these
understandings or representations came to draw on the trafficking discourse, yet other
instances of vanishing unaccompanied minors were comprehended in terms of how
children risks being picked out of the refugee centres by extended family members.
Hence bringing the system of unaccompanied minors living with family and friends
outside of state control and supervision into questioning (See for instance UDI 1999,
Melde- og ansvarsrutiner i forbindelse med barns ankomst og opphold i statlige mottak. RS
1999-009. Saksnummer: 98/1686. 8 mars 1999). Other cases of missing children were
framed as unaccompanied asylum seekers who chooses to go “underground” in order to
resist deportation; Either as made parallel to the conception of the so-called “over-aged
child”/ “Överåriga” (see also the image of the strategic adult) or children who had
received a rejection on their asylum application or so called “Dublin cases”. Parallel to
these presentations “missing children” could also be understood as “children in risk of
(sexual abuse and) exploitation.
A transference of the responsibility of the daily care from the Norwegian board of
immigration (UDI) and the Swedish board of migration (Migrationsverket) to the
municipal social service and Socialstyrelsen (Sweden) and Bufetat (Norway) were seen
as a way to secure the interest of the unaccompanied minors. This division of labour or
rationalities were made in order to reassure that the asylum claims of unaccompanied
minors was properly investigated by an institution different from the one in charge of
their daily care and housing. The Swedish and the Norwegian authorities also worked to
ensure more transparency of the living conditions of unaccompanied children living in
private lodging with extended family members and or friends. Inherent in the official
conceptualisation is often a perception of dangerous or hazardous situations stemming
from outside of the refugee centres. By ensuring more transparency, control and
regulation of the unaccompanied minors the authorities correspondingly also constructs
and single out the group of unaccompanied minors as a specific client with specific needs.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 95
We will in the following see that this “client” were to be interpreted ambivalently and
differently whether or not the “vanish” was considered voluntary or not.
In the aftermath of the media debate concerning unaccompanied minors who vent
missing a claim of action was directed the Boards of (im)migration in Sweden
(migrationsverket) and Norway (UDI) respectively. Attention was drawn to the fact that
the two boards were in charge of both the social dimension –i.e. daily care of
unaccompanied minors– as well as in charge of the asylum investigation of the asylumseeking child. Tasks that were considered as incommensurable and whether or not the
two boards was capable of safeguarding the best interest of children was brought into
questioning. Evident in the media narratives was also an ambivalence as to what a case
of a missing child was to be understood as –is it to be understood as a case of a “missing
child”, or is it a case of children in risk of sexual exploitation or a case of trafficking or
smuggling or a mix and blend of all these different understandings? A demand in order
to get the exact numbers of missing children or the scale of the problem was also made
(ref, ref, ref).
In the following part of this chapter my aim is to investigate how the issue of missing
kids were narrated from official authorities such as the Norwegian National board of
immigration (UDI) and Swedish board of migration (Migrationsverket), the Norwegian
boarder police, the national board of health and welfare in Sweden, the Ministry of
children, equality and social inclusion amongst others.
In the official narrations made by for instance Migrationsverket and UDI a way of
coming to terms with “missing children” is to make a distinction between “voluntarily
missing” or children whom, as the authorities assume, have decided to vanish on their
own accord, and the so called “involuntarily (“ofrivilliga”)missing children”. These are
children who are presumed to be missing because they have been taken against their
will. According to the Swedish Government (2007) it is also stated that unaccompanied
migrant children risk sexual exploitation because of their vulnerable positions as under
aged migrants without adult carers.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 96
6.2.1. VOLUNTARILY MISSING CHILDREN- ”CHILDREN IN TRANSIT” OR ”DUBLINERS” AND THE
REPRESENTATION OF THE STRATEGIC MIGRANT
Children or youth in transit or the so-called “Dublincases” or “Dubliners”,
(“Dublinärenden” or “Dublinare”) are figures of thought or representations constructing
a link between unaccompanied “asylum-seekers” that goes missing and the Dublin
convention. The Dublin convention (ref) limits any third country national to apply for
asylum and to have their claim investigated only in their first country of entry to the
European Union. In accordance to this representation is also a fear that the limitations of
movement set by the Dublin convention possibly could open up for a more methodical
and or calculating asylum behaviour amongst third country nationals claiming asylum in
any of the EU27 countries and Norway, Iceland and Switzerland (See for instance UDI
2003/2007).37 According to such an rationale unaccompanied minors can, in order to
enhance their chances to obtain a residence permit, sometimes choose to leave a country
that has rejected their claim in order to apply for asylum elsewhere. Such representation
is interesting to link to for instance the British debate on “asylum shopping” (See Hansen
2008, Watters 2008 and The daily Telegraph 2008, A migration cap must be strong but
fair). The representation of this “voluntarily motivated” absence is also interesting to
connect to the understanding of so called “anchor children” (see Chapter 4. The
traumatized and exposed child, for a thorough discussion regarding this figure of
thought) or “strategic adults” trying to pass as children (see Chapter 3. The vulnerable
child, strategic teen and calculating adult). These figures of thought have the common
denominator that they imply a tactical course of action or approach to the asylum
system by the asylum-seeker.
37
This fear is also interesting to analyse with reference to the climate in which the Dublin convention was
created in the first place: whilst constructing a common border separating the inner market –characterized by
free flows of money, goods, services and also people– from countries beyond EU and their nationals a need to
coordinate and harmonize asylum practice came about. In order to prevent a situation where third country
nationals could take advantage of the fact that each and every one of the EU27 countries could be a possible
“door” to the Union or that migrants strategically could apply for asylum in more than one country, the Dublin
convention was constructed. EU 27 (UK, Ireland and Cyprus still have some dispensations), Norway, Iceland and
Switzerland has ratified the convention. The Dublin convention is also backed by the construction of the socalled Eurodac system. The Eurodac system contains, amongst other things, of a database consisting of
fingerprints taken from asylum-seekers older than 14 years of age that has applied for asylum in either one of
the EU27, Switzerland, Iceland and or Norway.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 97
I tillegg er det del asylsøkere som bruker Norge som et transittland. De har ingen ønsker
om å opprettholde en asylsøknad i Norge og reiser videre uten å informere. Dette gjelder
både enslige mindreårige, og familier med barn. (UDI 2009, Savnede asylbarn flere
forklaringer.www.udi.noOversiktsider/UDI-mener/Avisinnlegg-ogkronikker/2008/Savnede-asylbarn---flereforklaringer/)
En tredjedel av de ungdomar som avvek hade sökt asyl i annat ”Dublin-land” innan de kom
till Sverige. Vi har säkra uppgifter om att 17 av ungdomarna antingen sökt asyl i annat land
efter att de registrerats som avvikna i Sverige, eller rent av redan haft uppehållstillstånd i
annat EU-land. (Migrationsverket 2003, Genomgång av ärenden där ensamkommande
asylsökande ungdomar avvikit under år 2002. 2003-10-20, N-11-2003-18696)
In regards to the Dubliners single events of individual behaviour are put together and
conceived as indicating a possible modus operandi for strategic asylum-seekers.
Important features of the Dubliners-representations are that these kids or youngster did
either not have Norway or Sweden as their designated country in the first place. Instead
they “stranded” there because they were detected by officials. Sometimes these kids
decide to “vanish” before their fingerprints and other information are taken from them.
or these children and youngsters sometimes endanger having their asylum claim
rejected and hence decides to abscond in order to avoid being deported.
or these kids have already been registered as asylum-seekers in an different Dublin
country (or their asylum claim has been rejected there or they have obtained a
residence permit) and they hence “choose” to flee in order to circumvent being
transported back to the country of entrance (See for instance the narrative of “Mustafa”
a underage asylum-seeker who as is claimed in Rapport fra abeidsgruppe/Justis- og
Politidepartementet, 2008: 22, Mindreårige som forsvinner fra mottak – forebygging og
oppklaring. April 2008 has applied for asylum in five other European countries under
different identities and as an adult).
Another important feature of the “transit” narrative is how the entire asylum reception
system intrinsically becomes viewed as a possible target or secondary “victim” of such
strategically operating migrants. In order to “protect it” (the asylum system or the
national borders) further registrations and controls of migrants are opted for (see for
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 98
instance Rapport fra abeidsgruppe/Justis- og Politidepartementet, 2008: 38,
Mindreårige som forsvinner fra mottak – forebygging og oppklaring. April 2008 or UDI
2002a and The Swedish Police in Stockholm/Border police 2008, Gemensam
handlingsplan gällande hanteringen av ensamkommande asylsökande barn och ungdomar
som reser in via Arlanda och avviker eller riskerar avvika från kommunala boenden.
Gränspolisavdelningen Polismyndigheten i Stockholms län 2008-01-18:5ff) Even though
these plans of action highlight’s the fact that asylum-seeking children going missing
could be a case of concern, these official narratives also works to legitimize why the
Norwegian nor the Swedish authorities do not have any exact measures of “missing
children” or why they don’t really engage in such disappearances.
ET SPESIELT PROBLEM også internasjonalt, er enslige mindreårige som forlater mottak
uten å oppgi hvor de drar. I Norge er det heldigvis en nedgang i antall enslige barn som
forlater mottakene. Av dem som har forlatt mottakene i år, er det ingen som vurderes som
særlige ”bekymringssaker”. De fleste er antatt å være reelle voksne over 18 år med et svakt
asylgrunnlag fra tidligere Øst-Europa og Nord-Afrika. For mange er det bekreftet at de er
registrert under annen identitet og som voksne i andre europeiske land. (UDI 2003a, Når
barn söker asyl blir de ivaretatt som barn. 03.07.22 Sic.)
These narratives could be said to counter the media claims but also work to legitimize
further restrictive policy measures in order to separate the “wheat from the chaff” or
those who have asylum claims from those who are going somewhere else. It does also
imply a stricter control of unaccompanied minors. The different official narrations can
also be seen as directly opposing some of the constructions of asylum-seeking children
who vanish without a trace that was brought forward in newspaper narrations.
Sometimes highlighting the need for more control and supervision of unaccompanied
minors in order to avoid strategic migration and yet at other times (as in the following
quotation) indicating a tone of ease: it is narrated as rather unproblematic that asylumseekers sometimes decide to travel elsewhere. (And that given these circumstances it
would be rather unwarranted to even process an asylum application.)
Ett ensamkommande barn som anländer till Sverige är normalt sett alltid i behov av
uppehållstillstånd här. Emellertid kan det tänkas situationer där det vore uppenbart
obehövligt att inleda ett ansökningsförfarande. Så kan t.ex. vara fallet om det redan efter
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 99
ett par dagars vistelse I Sverige framkommer att barnet inom kort kommer att resa vidare
till ett annat land. (Socialstyrelsen 2005, Meddelandeblad. 2005:429)
In the narration from Socialstyrelsen (2005) it is also understood as important not to
promote an asylum application if there could be indications that the child at hand might
be going somewhere else.
Siffror
från
Sverige,
Finland,
Danmark,
Nederländerna
och
Norge
visar
att
ensamkommande barn transiterar dessa lander för vidare resa till andra Schengenstater.
(The Swedish Police in Stockholm/Border police 2008, Gemensam handlingsplan gällande
hanteringen av ensamkommande asylsökande barn och ungdomar som reser in via Arlanda
och avviker eller riskerar avvika från kommunala boenden. Gränspolisavdelningen
Polismyndigheten i Stockholms län 2008-01-18)
Even though some instances of “missing children” narrated as Dubliners or transitchildren are considered as rather unproblematic, these so called “voluntarily absconding
youngsters” or kids are viewed as rather ambivalent subjects:
Pojke 15 år söker asyl i november 01. Han bor under asyltiden på Barn- och
Ungdomsenheten I Carlslund. Han är under hela tiden på Carlslund orolig och rastlös. Han
kommer ofta i bråk med andra ungdomar och med personalen. Vid samtal med sin
handläggare i februari 02 berättar pojken att han tidigare sökt asyl i Danmark under annat
namn. Handläggaren kontaktar danska myndigheter som berättar att pojken har
uppehållstillstånd i Danmark och att han har där registrerats som avviken. Pojken säger sig
vilja återvända till Danmark. Morgonen därpå är han försvunnen från Carlslund. Sent
samma dag meddelar danska myndigheter att han dykt upp I Danmark. (Migrationsverket
2003, Genomgång av ärenden där ensamkommande asylsökande ungdomar avvikit under år
2002. 2003-10-20, N-11-2003-18696)
In the quote from the Swedish Board of Migration (2003) we encounter one such
unaccompanied minor who presumably had not Sweden as his destined country. He is
constructed as a child in transit or as a migrant selectively picking the most attractive
destination (see also UDI 2002a for similar representations). This is also a story that
constructs unaccompanied children and young people as active entities in comparison to
the media narratives framing unaccompanied minors as passive victims of harsh
circumstances. (Even though the Norwegian narrative of “missing asylum-seeking
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 100
children as a case of a missing child” to some extent comprehended children as creative
actors. They were parallel also seen as passive and in need of protection from adults.) In
contrast to the image of the passive “missing-child”, “exploited child” or “smuggled
child”, children in transit are constructed as guided by their own actions and they are
seen as choosing to abscond from the premises. They are also understood as sort of
“picking out” selectively the right country to reside in or actively pursuing their dream
destination. Such a seemingly “motivation driven” migration is often intrinsically seen or
handled as though it somewhat opposes the very idea of “forced migration”. According
to Watters (2008), Kohli (2010) and Eide (2010) a migrant actively in pursuit of a better
life could by all means possibly also be the holder of “genuine” asylum claims or being
“forced” to migrate. In the official narration such understandings are often not implied.
“Tactical asylum behaviour” or for instance applying for asylum in different countries
under different names/identities on the contrarily could indicate that the subject at
hand does not have a genuine asylum claim.38
In the extract from the Swedish Migration board (2003) it is also highlighted that the
unaccompanied minor seem to be somewhat untrustworthy: In the quote above the
asylum seeker is described as a 15 year old boy, who has already been granted residence
in Denmark an (presumably important piece of) information he for some reason chooses
to withhold from Swedish authorities. It is also marked out that he seems restless,
uneasy and a problematic person –getting into fights with the staff and the other
unaccompanied minors in his group home. He disappears and is later found in Denmark
where he has a residence permit. The “vanish” per see is described as something rather
unproblematic and even presents a “happy ending”: a teen troublemaker who decides to
go back to Denmark.
38
This is interesting as it points to an understanding were “asylum claims” per see are constructed as having an
objective frame of interpretation to them. As if they do not depend on overall contextualization’s were
different countries even comprehends the contexts differently. For instance have groups of Iraqi asylumseekers sometimes been granted residence in Norway whilst their claims have been rejected in Sweden and
vice versa just because the board of immigration (Norway) versus the board of migration (Sweden) has made
different judgements.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 101
In the Norwegian narration the "transit child" or “Dubliner” narrative is also closely
associated with images of strategic adult migrants trying to pass as children (see also
chapter Chapter 3. The vulnerable child, strategic teen and calculating adult). Possibly
these children are rightly to be understood as "reelle voksne" who, because of their
rather weak asylum claims, try to pass as minors in order to get a residence permit in
Norway. Unaccompanied children who disappear without a trace is in line with such a
figure of thought not to be understood as matters of worry ("bekymringssaker") because
they elope, but rather to be framed as a possible burden to the entire asylum system
because
of
their
strategic
actions
and
multiple
asylum
applications.
6.2.2. INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCES - "VICTIMS” AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN
Even though Norwegian and Swedish authorities writes off some of the criticism
raised in the wake of the debate on missing unaccompanied asylum-seeking
children, they also reveal a totally different theme. Simultaneous to the image of the
ambivalent "transit child", a representation of a vulnerable or exploited child also coexists. Unaccompanied children who disappear without a trace are also constructed as
“children in risk of exploitation” a narrative in concurrence with the newspaper
representation of the exploited child but also parallel to the narrative of “smuggled or
trafficked victims” (see also UDI 2005/2008, 2007b, Politiet 2009 for similar lines of
reasoning).
Ensam-kommande barns situation har uppmärksammats mycket under senare år. Framför
allt har det handlat om att Migrationsverket och socialtjänsten inte kan komma överens
om ansvarsfördelningen, vilket medfört att barnen faller mellan stolarna. En del barn försvinner från förläggningarna och det finns misstankar om att vissa utnyttjas i prostitution.
(SOU 2004:71;86. Sic.)
According to a report by the Board of integration (2003) it is assumed that children
risks being sent away in order to be sexually exploited or otherwise abused (i.e. sexually
or on a hidden labour market) in Sweden and Norway.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 102
I en del fall har föräldrar blivit vilseledda att skicka barn till Sverige för att ge dem en
bättre framtid. Vanligen har familj eller vänner skuldsatt sig för att skaffa flygbiljett åt
barnet eller köpa plats av människosmugglare. Det förekommer också att barn och unga
förs hit för att utnyttjas, sexuellt eller på annat sätt, men det är okänt i vilken omfattning.
(Integrationsverket 2003 Ensamkommande barn - organisation och samverkan kring
arbetet med introduktion – en uppföljning i åtta kommuner år 2002 Integrationsverkets
Rapportserie 2003:0)
In the report from the Integration Board (2003) such incidences are highlighted in
relation to cases of people smuggling. The exact extent of such child abuse is unclear
(“tip of the iceberg”?) but “some cases” points to parents’ naïvely, or misled to believe
they were, sending of their children to a better life. The children are in this construct
understood as passive (they are sent off) and their parents as goodhearted yet
somewhat (too) trusty. Issues of missing children are seen related to sexual abuse of
children, but is clearly also constructed as a migration related problem. The “problem” of
children disappearing being parents “sending off” their children to Sweden or peoplesmugglers utilising under-age migrants on a black market.
Tre flickor födda 86, 87 och 89 ansöker om asyl i juni 2002 tillsammans med vuxen bror. I
juli 2002 påträffas den av flickorna som var född 87 i samband med en trafikolycka. I bilen
finns även en flicka född 1989 från en annan syskongrupp. Bilen körs av en
kokainpåverkad man som inte är släkt med flickorna. I bilen påträffas 70.000 i kontanter
och kläder (kvinnokläder samt blöta underkläder) som ger indikation om prostitution.
Flickorna placeras på barnhem under natten. Socialtjänsten i vistelsekommunen fattar
beslut om omhändertagande enligt LVU § 6 men barnen hinner avvika. (Migrationsverket
2003, Genomgång av ärenden där ensamkommande asylsökande ungdomar avvikit under
år 2002. 2003-10-20, N-11-2003-18696)
The Swedish board of migration (2003) review of cases of unaccompanied children who
had gone missing in the period 2002 (in the cooling water of the Carlslund scandal) also
highlights a narrative similar to the medial representation of exploited children. In a
quote (se above) a case of three girls aged 14-16 found together with a man –who was
seemingly unrelated to the girls and described as being under influence of cocaine. A
decision to put the girls into detention was made (LVU), but the children managed to
disappear before this incarceration was effected (ibid.) The girls are described rather
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 103
shortly: we know very little about them except age and gender. At the same time the
extract seems wide open for speculations: the "women's clothing" and the cash amount
are constructed as indicators of prostitution or at least pointing to some sort of sexual
exploitation of the three minors. The fact that the man is described as being under the
influence of cocaine and that he is not related to the girls come to indicate criminal
activities and also highlight the girls' vulnerability (what are the girls doing in his
company in the first place?). The municipal social service is described like a hero who
vainly attempts to save the girls from their terrible ordeal.
Flicka från Serbien/Montenegro kommer till Sverige tillsammans med make och svåger.
Flickan är blåslagen då hon anländer. Maken är vuxen. Flickan är gravid och hon uppger
vid asylutredning att hon är föräldralös. (Migrationsverket 2003, Genomgång av ärenden
där ensamkommande asylsökande ungdomar avvikit under år 2002. 2003-10-20, N-112003-18696)
Furthermore, the Swedish Board of Migration (2003) also highlights a story of a
pregnant girl who arrives Sweden accompanied by an adult husband and her brother-inlaw. She is described as beaten –severely bruised. While the whole extract is rather
ambiguous in the way this specific incidence is narrated: we do not know anything more
about her than her nationality, that she “claims” to be orphaned, that she's married
(could she be a possible child-bride?), that she is injured (we never learn by who or in
what context, she has been bruised). The construction of the Serbian/Montenegrin girl
gives away other associations than the “children in transit” or “Dubliners”. Instead the
quotation chisels out a rather speculative and intriguing scenario that raises more
questions than it feeds us with answers: a young girl from a previous Eastern-European
country (could this be a story indicating human-trafficking?) and accompanied by an
adult husband (could she possibly be married to him against her will? Or is the husband
the one who has been hitting her? Is this a narrative of a battered woman? See Loseke
1992). The fact that her pregnancy is foregrounded constructs her as in a vulnerable and
exposed state. The girl appears to be extremely fragile and thus in need of social
protection and care.
"The unaccompanied child" in these two narratives constructs “missing asylum-seeking
children” in risk of abuse as vulnerable, exposed and passive objects. In the extract
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 104
quoted from the Swedish Board of Migration (2003) they are also constructed as girls.
The absconding Dubliner was on the contrarily described as a boy.
En begrensning av bevegelsesfriheten supplert med en tettere oppfølgning av barna vil
formentlig være det eneste tiltaket som i særlig grad vil kunne redusere risikoen for både
”frivillige” og ufrivillige forsvinninger. Både voksne og mindreårige asylsøkere reiser
illegalt i Schengenområdet, og meldes ofte som forsvunnet fra det land de har søkt asyl i.
Slike forsvinninger vil vanskelig kunne forebygges effektivt, med mindre den løpende
kontrollen med de mindreårige blir vesentlig skjerpet. (Rapport fra abeidsgruppe/Justisog Politidepartementet, 2008: 38, Mindreårige som forsvinner fra mottak – forebygging og
oppklaring. April 2008)
In order to balance between the image of the “Dubliner” and the image of the exposed
child it become important to regulate and control strategic migrants but also to take
proper care of the vulnerables. As a way to address both the media debate and the
demand for more safeguarding of the "vulnerable children” yet also to relate to
representations of" strategic minors "and or "children in transit" restrictions to the
individual freedom of movement are sometimes seen as a tangible way to manage
disappearances. A kind of "loock them in, in order to keep them safe" rhetoric? (See also
Bufetat 2008/2009).
6.3 CONCLUDING REMARKS
Visualized within newspaper narratives of missing or vanishing asylum-seeking children
is some of the context to which the official responses and formulations of a reception
system for unaccompanied minors during 2000-2008 responded. It becomes clear that
official narration such as policy rarely is formulated in a social vacuum but needs to be
contextualized in regards to popular or medial pictures.
Gamson and Modigliani (1989) argue that media discourse is an important formation
ground or a “looking glass” to public opinion. In this perception media is not necessarily
predicting policy outcomes, but rather to be seen as a cultural system or forum for
public opinion, to be counted for in its own right. As we have seen in the case of the
missing asylum-seeking children, media played an active role of the agenda setter,
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 105
demanding action and or liability from authorities in Sweden and Norway. In the
Norwegian newspaper narratives missing under-age asylum-seekers was firstly framed
as incidences of “missing children” and hence a call was made in regards to children’s
rights and Norwegian official practice as potentially racist was brought into questioning.
In Sweden a view of missing asylum-seeking children as cases of “children in risk of
sexual exploitation” rather came to frame such instances as migration related and of
external origin. During 2005 and onwards “missings” became articulated as a proof of
trafficking or smuggling of migrant children to and through Sweden and Norway, hence
making the link to migration or migration related problems more articulate in both
countries.
Still as is evident in regards to issues of missing asylum-seekers the authorities had
other conceptualization of cases of “vanishing minors”. According to the official logic
“missing asylum-seekers” was either to be understood as “voluntary absconders” –
Dubliners or transit children- or as “involuntary missing’s” –possible victims of
trafficking.
In weighing different policies towards unaccompanied minors, the call for softer and
more child friendlier strategies are clearly contrasted by the necessity felt by Norwegian
and Swedish authorities in order to send a “strong message” or the need for more
signalizing politics. Policies directed “unaccompanied minors” aiming to keep the
vulnerables “safe” tend to indirectly also focus on how to secure the borders from more
traffickers and smugglers or the asylum system from strategic asylum behaviour.
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 106
Chapter 7. The reception of unaccompanied minors in the Gothenburg region - a
case study of a reception in practice (30 sidor)
In this chapter I will analyse how a sample of unaccompanied minors and professionals
and support people involved in the reception of them in the GR relate themselves and
their experiences to official and medial representations.
Since the 1 of July 2006 the Swedish Board of Migration where no longer in charge of
handling both the investigation of the asylum claims and the daily care and housing of
unaccompanied minors. Instead this responsibility was divided between the
Socialstyrelsen (The National Board of Health and Welfare) and the SKL (The Swedish
Association of Local Authorities and Regions) and the Migration Board. In Norway a
similar development took place during 2007. This responsibilization process was in its
initial stage directed at the group of unaccompanied children under the age of 15, but
was to in its second stage (during the years to come, as it still has not due to the
increasing number of applicant minors) also to include minors between 15 and 18 years
of age.
In the media debate in both Norway and Sweden such a division of labour had been
highlighted as a more rational and sensitive strategy in order to guarantee and secure
the best interest of unaccompanied minors
The implementation of this new scheme into practice turned out to be much more
difficult than the policymakers and authorities in Sweden and Norway had first
anticipated. In the media debate the local municipalities were for instance framed as
highly reluctant to take delivery of unaccompanied minors. Narratives on how the
original reception municipalities became filled to capacity illustrate this. How to go
about to put the new division of labour per see into system was also a conundrum as the
responsibilities was overriding and it was made out and conceived as rather blurred
whether and how the municipalities would get their expenses covered by the Board of
Migration. During the period between 2006 until 2010 the media shifted its focus from
narrations centred on instances of missing asylum-seeking children to issues of cost and
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 107
burdens regarding the unwillingness of the municipalities to take on the daily care of an
increasing group of unaccompanied minors.
In the media the reluctance of the municipalities to receive unaccompanied minors
where highlighted, as well as made understandable due to the lack of transparency
regarding costs. Claims from the Childrens ombudsmen, as well as the Board of
Migration, the SKL and the Socialstyrelsen in Sweden and from the Bufetat (Norwegian
Directorate for Children, Youth and family Affairs) and the Norwegian board of
Immigration seek to highlight the importance of the municipalities in taking on the daily
care of unaccompanied minors. In this construction unaccompanied children are
brought forward as valuable and forthcoming taxpaying citizens of importance to the
future of the Norwegian and Swedish well-fare societies. Yet unaccompanied asylum
seeking children are also constructed as essentially different from other children for
whom the social services are in charge. They are constructed as “unproblematic”
(compared to the average child or youth in the care of Swedish and Norwegian Social
service), yet as anguished by the specific conditions of “separation” and “migration” and
of being a possible “refugee”.
The representation of “a valuable future citizen” versus taxpayers burden, “exposed” or
“vulnerable” or “traumatized children” versus “strategic adults” and “ambivalent teens”
are hence also interesting to deconstruct with regards to the specific context of the
reception system of unaccompanied minors in the Gothenburg Region Association of
Local municipalities. The main focus in this chapter is to highlight how teachers, social
workers, health carers (professionals), people working in homes for care and housing,
foster parents, guardians (support people) and unaccompanied minors relates
themselves to such official articulations. (Processes of identification, association,
opposition or dis-identification).
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 108
CHAPTER 8. RE-REPRESENTING THE AMBIGUOUS CHILD
CONCLUSIONS AND SUMMARY(15 SIDOR)
Work in Progress – Do not quote without permission from the author!
Sida 109