Using X-rays of asylum-seekers' teeth and knuckles, Danish doctors concluded that 74 percent of young men in the "suspicious" group (or around 600 individuals) were actually adults.
The number of medical checks, ordered by DIS has thus far more than doubled compared to 2015, which was in itself a record year for age verifications. By the end of 2016, over 1,000 age tests are expected to be carried out. The reason for the increasing number of age tests required by the Agency is that the group of unaccompanied minors has increased, with many, especially North Africans, arriving without identity papers to determine their age.
The reason for the widespread age fraud is that the Danish asylum system offers minors a range of benefits compared to adults, including the right to bring their parents to Denmark.
"The Danish Immigration Service makes a major effort to expose cheaters and is also working to further improve the pace," Inger Støjberg told Jyllands-Posten.
However, Eva Singer, the head of asylum at the Danish Refugee Council, warned that the situation with age verification is rather cloudy.
"Many of these young people actually don't know their exact age, because it is not something that is registered in their home countries in the same way as it is in Denmark," Eva Singer told Jyllands-Posten.
According to her, Danish immigration authorities tend to disregard paperwork from countries such as Afghanistan, claiming the high level of forgeries, often solely relying on age tests.
DIS denied the allegations and ensured the agency always accepts a permissible clearance of one year.
"Say, the age test result says 18-19, whereas the applicant himself reports 17 years, then we set the age at 17 years," a DIS employee wrote in a statement to Jyllands-Posten.
Previously numerous reports revealed widespread age fraud, identifying single instances of 30-year-olds posing as teens. Many experts called the Swedish age-verification system, which mostly relies on interviews, 'naïve' and 'insufficient,' yet the question of age-cheating among asylum seekers remains a fraught one. Skeptics who accuse children in danger of lying may end up being labeled 'heartless' and 'xenophobic.'
Nu när ni ser på #granskning kom då ihåg att aldrig ifrågasätta åldern på dessa "barn"#svpol #migpol #ensamkommande pic.twitter.com/1q4qpG8mbZ
— Badoom (@baboom_bd) 31 августа 2016 г.
