Migrants arrive to board smugglers' boats in an attempt to cross the English Channel off the beach of Gravelines, northern France on Sept 27, 2025. UK plans to use facial recognition tech to decide ages of lone child asylum seekers but critics say biases could rob many of safeguards. — AFP
LONDON: After seeing fighters ravage his home, Jean thought he had found safety when he arrived in Britain but was told he was too tall to be 16 and sent to live with hundreds of adult asylum seekers, without further support.
Alone and exhausted, Jean, who used a pseudonym and did not want to reveal his home country in central Africa for privacy, said border officials told him he was 26 – a decade older than he actually was when he arrived in 2012.
