De Sanctis Vincenzo, Soliman Ashraf T, Soliman Nada A, Elalaily Rania, Di Maio Salvatore, Bedair Elsaid M A, Kassem Islam, Millimaggi Giuseppe
Pediatric and Adolescent Outpatient Clinic, Quisisana Hospital, Ferrara, Italy.
Acta Biomed. 2016 Sep 13;87(2):121-31.
Unaccompanied minors refer to immigrants who are under the age of 18 and are not under the care of a parent or legal guardian. Age assessment is used in Europe mainly to establish whether or not an individual is under 18 years of age and therefore eligible for protection under the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN - CRC). EU Member States use a combination of techniques to determine the age of a minor and to certify minor status, including interviews and documentation, physical examinations (anthropometric assessment; sexual maturity assessment; dental observation); psychological and sociological assessment; radiological tests (carpal, dental or collarbone x-rays). All such techniques are criticized as they are often arbitrary, do not take into account ethnic variations, and are based on reference materials that are outdated, invasive and may procure harm to the individuals whose age is assessed. They also generate a margin of error that makes them inaccurate to use. There is a debate about the risks and ethics associated with the use of X-rays for non-medical purposes versus the benefits of more accurate age assessments in the interest of justice. It appears that in European countries many individuals carrying out age assessment do not have sufficient training or are not sufficiently independent enough to be carrying out such assessments. Moreover, there is a lack of standardized approach between countries or even within the same country. Only some countries clearly indicate a margin of error in the results of age assessment examinations but there is no consensus - within and among countries - about the width of such margins in relation to each exams applied. It has been advised that the expert report should give the degree of age probability to allow Magistrate to interpret the age assessment results on the 'balance of probabilities' and give the detainee the right to the rule of the 'benefit of the doubt'. It also addresses concerns rested in the convention of the Rights of the Child.
无人陪伴的未成年人是指年龄未满18岁且不在父母或法定监护人照料之下的移民。在欧洲，年龄评估主要用于确定个人是否未满18岁，从而是否符合联合国《儿童权利公约》（UN - CRC）的保护条件。欧盟成员国采用多种技术来确定未成年人的年龄并证明其未成年身份，包括面谈和文件审查、体格检查（人体测量评估；性成熟评估；牙齿观察）、心理和社会学评估、放射学检查（腕骨、牙齿或锁骨X光检查）。所有这些技术都受到批评，因为它们往往具有随意性，没有考虑到种族差异，并且基于过时、具有侵入性且可能对接受年龄评估的个人造成伤害的参考资料。它们还会产生误差范围，使其使用起来不够准确。关于将X光用于非医疗目的的风险和伦理问题与为了司法公正进行更准确年龄评估的益处之间存在争议。在欧洲国家，似乎许多进行年龄评估的人员没有接受过足够的培训，或者不够独立，无法进行此类评估。此外，各国之间甚至同一国家内部都缺乏标准化的方法。只有一些国家在年龄评估检查结果中明确指出误差范围，但各国之间以及国内对于每种应用检查的误差范围宽度并没有达成共识。有人建议专家报告应给出年龄可能性程度，以便治安法官根据“盖然性权衡”来解释年龄评估结果，并赋予被拘留者“疑罪从无”的权利。这也解决了《儿童权利公约》中所关注的问题。
