Louise Kinlen

Ph.D. Topic: Rights, Advocacy and Well-being of Children Seeking Asylum in Ireland

This PhD is a study to gain an understanding into the application of rights-based and advocacy approaches to securing the well-being of children, and particularly to children in the asylum seeking process.

Asylum seeker children have been identified as a particularly vulnerable group. Children who come to Ireland as asylum seekers, both with their parents or unaccompanied, spend long periods awaiting a decision on their status and during which time live in hostel accommodation under the current Direct Provision and Dispersal Scheme. The scheme puts many asylum seekers at risk of severe poverty and it is claimed that it breaches certain human rights. The impact of this scheme on children will be examined from a rights based approached, including an inquiry into rights such as the right to family life, the right to privacy and the rights of children under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The debate surrounding children’s rights, including constitutional reform and the view of the State of its non citizen children will form an important part of the study. The relationship between rights based approaches and advocacy and their application to children will be examined, with a focus on the role of the voluntary sector and attempts to include the voice asylum seeker children and their families.

This study will explore the notion of advocacy as it relates to children and particularly the role of the voluntary sector and its relationship with the State. Legislation, policy and practice in relation to asylum seeker children will be analysed from a rights based perspective, including an analysis of its impact on this group. The analysis will be both from a legal or human rights perspective and will draw on sociological approaches, such as the sociology of childhood literature.