Last year, some 11,000 unaccompanied minors applied for asylum in Germany (as of September 30), with the main countries of origin being Syria and Afghanistan. More than nine out of ten of them were granted protection, according to Germany's Federal Office for Migrants and Refugees (Bamf).

Moreover, more than 28,000 mostly male unaccompanied migrant children and young adults were taken into care in 2022, more than in the previous three years combined.

Yet unaccompanied refugee minors often have no documents to prove their age. In some cases, they have never had a passport or were unable to take it with them when they fled abruptly; in other cases, identity documents were lost during their flight or withheld by smugglers. What's more, a considerable number of people don't have birth certificates in some regions of the world.

As obtaining the necessary documents from their home countries at a later date is usually difficult, and often even impossible, unaccompanied migrant and refugee minors rarely have the privilege to prove their age. It's also possible that German authorities don't recognize their documents.

At the same time, without official documentation, it's impossible to determine one's exact age. Therefore, all age assessments, even if they're medical procedures, are only estimates. For young migrants, mistakes in age assessment can have far-reaching consequences: The estimate determines whether they get access to housing in keeping with youth welfare law, support, education, legal representation and extensive medical care.

Here's what you need to know about the age assessment of unaccompanied migrant minors in Germany.

Read more: Proportion of young males among asylum applicants on the rise in Germany

Identity papers and self-disclosure

• According to German law, the around 800 youth welfare offices (German: Jugendämter) are primarily responsible for both the provisional taking into care and assessing the age of an unaccompanied migrant minor who arrives in Germany. This includes dispelling doubts about whether the child is a minor.
• According to the Association for Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (Bumf), this process can take over a year due to a backlog, which means many minors lack legal representation and education during this time.
• Upon taking minors into care, the youth welfare office staff will try to establish the young person's age by examining their identity papers. According to Bumf the documents need to make "sufficiently certain that the information they contain, particularly with regard to the date of birth, are factually accurate."
• If the documents fail to do that, the young migrant has a chance to dispel doubts through self-disclosure (German: Selbstauskunft); also see 'What are the minors' rights?'.

What happens during the qualified inspection?

• In cases where doubts persist regarding a migrant's age, and neither valid identity documents nor self-disclosure during the initial screening are conclusive, a qualified inspection (qualifizierte Inaugenscheinnahme) is carried out.
• It is recommended, although not binding, that this inspection involves at least two specially trained educational professionals, assisted by language mediators/interpreters and, when necessary, psychological support. Various factors are taken into consideration, including external appearance, information gathered during the interview about the developmental status, and other relevant information.
• If the young person provides conflicting statements or if concerns related to age arise during the interview, these issues must be addressed during the conversation, according to Bumf and jurisdictions.
• Educational professionals pay special attention to how the young person reacts to such allegations. For example, very obvious contradictions and a childish way of dealing with them can also indicate a "lack of maturity", according to Bumf.
• The determination of whether the individual is a minor or an adult rests with the interviewers, focusing on this classification rather than specifying a particular age or date of birth.
• According to Bumf, the result and the overall assessment must be documented in a comprehensible and verifiable manner and be transparent in its individual reasoning steps.
• If there is sufficient probability that the child is a minor, even residual doubts about the self-disclosure do not change the fact that the child can then be assumed to be a minor, Bumf writes on its website.
• According to a 2006 ruling by Germany's federal administrative court, decision-makers must keep the protection of minors and thus the principle of "in case of doubt for the minor" into account.

Also read: Spain: Criticism of age assessment tests for young migrants

Medical tests for age assessment

• In cases where neither self-disclosure nor the qualified inspection resolves doubts about the migrant's age, the youth welfare office must arrange for a medical examination.
• Medical screenings must be carried out by qualified medical professionals using the gentlest and, as far as possible, most reliable methods. Genital examinations, for example, are excluded.
• Several options exist for the medical screening, including X-raying the carpal bones, jaw, or collarbone. (If the carpal bones aren't fully developed yet, it's possible to say with a certain degree of confidence that the person in question is younger than 18.)
• Doctors can also look at the whole body to assess their reactions, emotions and how mature the young person is.
• However, doctors' associations and ethics commissions in Germany have repeatedly spoken out against determining one's age in the past using bone scans, saying it's harmful and not justified. Moreover, an X-ray test of a hand bone can reportedly have a margin of error of up to three years.
• It is important to note that a medical examination is also not able to unequivocally determine one's age. The methods described here can only provide a rough estimate and a likely age range.

Read more: UK: Bone scans to be introduced for asylum seekers

What happens after the medical screening?

• The youth welfare office's sole responsibility is to decide whether the young migrant in question is a minor or an adult.
• Determining a concrete, albeit fictional, date of birth is mandatory. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, among other protection schemes, stipulates that December 31st within the known year of birth must always be selected for a fictional date. (Some jurisdictions have said this is an unlawful practice.)
• Following the determination of the responsible youth welfare office, a so-called clearing procedure is initiated to address the need for assistance, state of health, legal representation, residence status, and accommodation.
• The decision on whether to file an asylum application is based on the individual's residence status. "If an asylum procedure is not promising, other possibilities to secure residence may be considered," according to Bamf.
• In case the youth welfare office determines that a young migrant is a minor, a guardian must be appointed.

Read more: Ultrasound age tests on minor refugees?

What are the minors' rights?

• The central international agreement on children's rights is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
• According to Bamf, a child is defined pursuant to the Child and Youth Welfare Act (Kinder- und Jugendhilfegesetz) as someone who has not reached the age of 14, and a juvenile as someone who is 14 but not yet 18 years old.
• Paragraph 42f of Germany's Child and Youth Services Act (Kinder- und Jugendhilfegesetz) states how age assessment should be handled:
• Among other things, young migrants "must be fully informed about the examination method and the possible consequences of the age determination" prior to a medical examination. Such an examination also requires their consent, which must be documented in a comprehensible manner.
• They moreover not only have the right to be involved in all relevant decisions regarding the age assessment; German law also mandates that this includes being consulted about their rights in "intelligible language and with support from interpreters". They also have the right to request informing a person they trust as well as request a medical examination in cases of doubt.
• If a youth welfare office decides that a young migrant is already an adult, the migrant in question can appeal the decision within one month. In order to be able to stay in the care of youth welfare services during the appeal procedure, migrants must file a request to that effect (interim legal protection, einstweiliger Rechtsschutz).
• Missing documents that could prove the young migrant's age must not lead to a disadvantage for the affected person, according to Bumf. Instead, the self-disclosure is of key importance and may only be doubted in well-founded and exceptional cases.
• According to Bumf, age assessments of other countries or other municipalities within Germany or even other authorities, such as the foreigners' office or police, are not binding for the locally responsible youth welfare office. On the contrary, they have to carry them out themselves due to the principle of official investigation (Amtsermittlungsgrundsatz).
• Contradictions during the qualified inspection do not justify the conclusion that the age is incorrect, according to Bumf.

Resources

• The European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) has an 'age assessment booklet for children' available in five languages that is to "inform young persons arriving in Europe who might have to take part in an age assessment."
• UN refugee agency UNHCR's 'Guidelines on Policies and Procedures in Dealing with Unaccompanied Children Seeking Asylum' from 1997 provide an overview of considerations when age assessment is necessary (page 8). Among other things, UNHCR recommends to give the "the benefit of the doubt if the exact age is uncertain."
• Bamf has an overview in English of the different steps after unaccompanied minors arrive in Germany.
• The federal working group of the state youth welfare offices publishes 'recommended actions for dealing with unaccompanied minors' that contain implementation recommendations for the individual youth welfare measures as well as information on the clearing procedure, age assessment and family reunification during temporary detention.

This explainer is primarily based on an overview of how age assessment of unaccompanied migrant minors in Germany works by the Association for Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (Bumf).