Afghan Teen Awarded £25,000 After UK Officials’ ‘Flawed’ Age Assessment Mistook Him for an Adult

In a case that has cast a harsh spotlight on the UK’s asylum system, an Afghan teenager has been awarded £25,000 in compensation after a tribunal ruled that Home Office officials seriously misjudged his age, mistakenly classifying him as an adult based on a subjective assessment of his “physical appearance.”

The young refugee, who cannot be named for legal reasons, arrived in the UK by small boat in 2022, fleeing Taliban persecution after his father, a police officer, was targeted. He stated he was 17 years old. However, officials from the St Helens council in Merseyside conducted an age assessment and controversially judged him to be between 23 and 25 years old.

A Reliance on “Physical Maturity” Overturned by Evidence

The initial assessment, as revealed in the tribunal documents, cited “physical features” such as a “prominent neck cartilage” (Adam’s apple) and his “general appearance” as evidence of his being an adult. This method of visual assessment is widely criticized by medical and human rights organizations as unreliable and unscientific.

The UK Immigration and Asylum Tribunal overturned this ruling after reviewing compelling new evidence. This included detailed medical reports and documentary evidence from Afghanistan, which corroborated the teenager’s stated date of birth. The tribunal declared the initial assessment “unlawful” and accepted that he was, in fact, a minor at the time of his arrival.

“A Terrifying Ordeal” and Lasting Harm

The misclassification had severe immediate consequences. Instead of being taken into the care of social services as a vulnerable child, the teenager was housed in adult accommodation for asylum seekers, where he was at a significantly higher risk of exploitation and harm.

In his testimony, he described the experience as “a terrifying ordeal,” stating he felt isolated and unsafe. His lawyer argued that the error caused profound “psychological distress and trauma,” for which the £25,000 compensation—covering both legal costs and damages—was awarded.

The court also heard poignant details of the boy’s background: he had never attended school because it was destroyed in the war in his village, and his family was forced to flee after his father’s life was threatened by the Taliban.

A Symptom of a “Broken System”

Human rights groups have seized upon the case as a stark example of a deeply flawed process. “This is not an isolated incident, but a symptom of a broken system,” stated a spokesperson for the Refugee Council. “Relying on arbitrary visual cues to determine a child’s age is not only scientifically bankrupt but also incredibly dangerous. It places genuinely vulnerable children in situations that can cause lasting harm.”

The case emerges amid heightened political tension in the UK over channel crossings and the government’s efforts to deter asylum seekers. Critics argue that a “culture of disbelief” within the Home Office is leading to unlawful decisions that violate the rights of those seeking protection.

A Home Office spokesperson said, “We are considering the judgment carefully. It is vital we protect the integrity of our immigration system and ensure that adults are not wrongly treated as children, which is why we are bringing forward legislation to introduce scientific age assessment methods.”

This promised legislation, which proposes the use of X-rays and MRI scans, is itself controversial, with the British Medical Association and other ethical bodies warning that such methods are inaccurate and potentially unethical.

The ruling sets a clear precedent and serves as a powerful rebuke to a system that, in this instance, failed a child fleeing war, compounding his trauma with a bureaucratic error that put him at grave risk.

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