To Örebro University

Statistics made available by the Swedish Migration Agency (SMA) make it possible to follow the outcomes of asylum applications made by unaccompanied children (types of permits, percentage of rejections etc.). Yet, we know little about what unaccompanied children report in asylum procedure, or how their heterogeneous asylum claims influence the possibilities of being approved or rejected. In addition, we do not know if there are differences in reporting between boys and girls, and if so, these potential differences influence the possibility of receiving residency.

We decided to explore what unaccompanied children report using a mixed method approach. Asylum decisions concerning unaccompanied children were first coded inductively. These codes were later merged into larger categories that were analyzed quantitatively by regression analysis. The data sample consisted of 2321 asylum decisions (one calendar year) issued by the SMA. Overall, the results show that female gender has a negative influence on asylum outcomes. This difference is however reduced if the girl has reported a violent death by a next of kin. Moreover, there is an indication that girls report sexual violence to a larger extent than boys. However, the number of girls in the data sample was smaller (14.1 %), so when examining the group of children reporting sexual violence, the reporting by boys was slightly higher (in percentage). The results can provide insights about gender equality in asylum procedure, perceptions of children as active migrants and victimization.