Ann Christin Cederborg Professor and Head of the department Child and Youth Studies Stockholm university Vulnerable children Children exposed to Sexual and physical abuse Sex trade trafficking ID: 645197
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Vulnerable children and their right to be heard
Ann-
Christin
Cederborg
Professor and Head of the department:
Child and Youth Studies, Stockholm universitySlide2
Vulnerable children
Children exposed to:
Sexual and physical abuse
Sex trade (trafficking)BullyingChildren seeking asylum Neglected children Children with psychological problemsChildren committing serious crimes
Ann-Christin Cederborg
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Girl’s exposed to sex trade
Serious social problem
Difficulties with prosecution of traffickers
One reason victims’ reluctance to cooperate with authoritiesAnn-Christin Cederborg3Slide4
Children exposed to sex trade
Lindholm
, J., Cederborg A-C. &
Alm, C. (2014). Adolescent Girls Exploited in the Sex Trade: Informativeness and Evasiveness in Investigative Interviews. Police Practice and Research: An International Journal (in press)Ann-Christin Cederborg4Slide5
Aim
We do not enough about how to interview exploited children:
This study investigates how girls respond to questions about the sex trade with respect to the quality of questions asked
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Quality of question types
Open questions
:
Invitations prompt children to freely recall information.”Tell me what happened”Directive questions openly focus on details already mentioned”When did you leave Sweden”Ann-Christin Cederborg6Slide7
Question types
Focused questions
Leading questions focus on details or aspects not previously mentioned, asking to affirm, negate or select given options:
”Do you know anyone here in Sweden”Suggestive questions assume details that have not been disclosed by the child strongly communicating what response is expected:” What did you tell your parents before you went to Sweden”Ann-Christin Cederborg7Slide8
Quality of responses
Disclosures:
Request conforming, Agreements, Disagreements, Extended task related
Non-disclosures:No answer, evasive responsesAnn-Christin Cederborg8Slide9
Result
Quantitative analyses
Disclosures five times more frequent than non-disclosures.
Request-conforming most commonMore than 50% of the question asked were not recommended leading and suggestive questions. Ann-Christin Cederborg9Slide10
Reason
Victims may fear reprisals
Are under the trafficker’s control
Loyalty towards their traffickerDisloyal with Law EnforcementDo not believe the trafficker will be prosecutedAnn-Christin Cederborg10Slide11
ResultsDisclosures involved a large number of yes and no responses implying that few details of legal importance were elicited
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VictimsVictims exposed to severe abuse or are in the traffickers’ control are the least likely to disclose information
Have feelings of guilt and shame
Fear of reprimands
Feelings of co-responsibilityAnn-Christin Cederborg12Slide13
Evasive responsesThe girls avoid disclosing information about
crime specific details:
involvement in the sex trade
their relations to persons involved in the crimeAnn-Christin Cederborg13Slide14
Case specific detailsNot motivated to disclose:
Time laps between the period of exploitation and the conducting of the police interviews
Exposure of high level of violence, abuse and force
Interviews together with the perpetratorAnn-Christin Cederborg14Slide15
Novel insightsFurther the knowledge about each girl’s personal style to disclose information
Police officers can facilitate disclosure by avoiding criticism, confrontations and leading questions. They should also avoid suggestive prompts
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Asylum seeking minors in interpreter-mediated interviews
Objectives
Explore the extent to which the minors-
informativeness was effected by the quality of the information seeking promptsExamine how accurately the interpreter managed to transmit substantial information provided by the minorsAnn-Christin Cederborg16Slide17
A quantitative analysisOf:
the translated questions asked by the officials
the minors’ responses to them
the accuracy with which the minors’ responses were renderedAnn-Christin Cederborg17Slide18
Question typesOpen questions:
Invitations
Directive questions
Focused questions:Leading questionsSuggestive utterancesAnn-Christin Cederborg18Slide19
Minors’ responsesDisclosure
request conforming
extended task-related
disagreements and agreementsNon-disclosureevasive absence of responsesAnn-Christin Cederborg19Slide20
Translations of the minors’ responsesclose approximation of what the child said
summary
expanded
divergentnon-renditionsilenceAnn-Christin Cederborg20Slide21
ResultProvision of 3 547 responses:
3 285 were disclosures
262 non-disclosuresAnn-Christin Cederborg21Slide22
ResultType of disclosures varied depending on type of question asked:
Open questions (invitations and directives) elicited higher level of request conforming responses compared to focused questions
Focused questions (leading and suggestive) elicited more of agreements, disagreements and extended responses
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RenditionsAccurate renditions 76%
Inaccurate renditions 16%
Non renditions 8%
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Minors withhold specific facts
Especially when asked to:
reveal information about ID papers
location of the smugglerorphanagehomeparents’ identities and whereaboutstime of events that could provide information for child’s age estimationsmugglers’ and helpers’ identityAnn-Christin Cederborg24Slide25
Active participantsSeldom gave no answers
Elaborated on their answers
Tried to provide alternative accounts when disagreeing with options given
Elaborated on their responses when they agreed with the options providedAnn-Christin Cederborg25Slide26
InterpreterAll inaccurate renditions were sources of concern:
Each could negatively affect the quality of information provided to the Migration authorities
For example when they improved on or ignored the style and semantic choices made by the minors
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Interpreter-mediated asylum hearings in Sweden
Keselman
, O., Cederborg, A-C., Lamb, M.E., & Dahlström, Ö. (2008). Mediated communication with minors in asylum- seeking hearings.
Journal of Refugee Studies. 21,1,103-116. Keselman, O., Cederborg, A-C., Lamb, M.E., & Dahlström, Ö. (2010a). Asylum seeking minors in interpreter-mediated interviews: what do they say and what happens to their responses? Child & Family Social Work. 15, 325-334.Keselman, O., Cederborg, A-C., & Linell, P. (2010b) “That is not necessary for you to know!” Negotiation of participation status of unaccompanied children in interpreter-mediated asylum hearings. Interpreting. International Journal of Research and Practice in Interpreting. 12:1, 83-104.
Kelselman, O. (2009). Restricting participation. Unaccompanied children in interpreter-mediated asylum hearings in Sweden. Dissertation Linköping University
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Overall findingsInterpreters can profoundly influence the fact finding aspects of asylum investigations
Migration authorities have to increase their awareness of how the minors’ disclosures can be influenced by the questions asked
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ConclusionVulnerable children’s right to be heard is obvious but:
Their motivation to report may vary
Irrespectively, the interviews have to be performed in such a way that the minors are given best possible prerequisites to give their perspective
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