Medicinsk åldersbedömning - En maktutövning?

In this essay, I aim to analyze unaccompanied refugee youths ́ experiences of medical age assessment and its directives. The study is based on deep interviews with three unaccompanied youths. The focus is to explore underlying power relationships that operate through the age assessment. To do that, I have used both theories of power as well as queer theory. The results show that all three informants have been mistreated by the Swedish Migration Agency. My analysis shows that power is expressed through institutions such as the Migration Agency and its administrators, Rättsmedicinalverket and the government. The informants felt powerless about their situation and they testify about a culture of mistrust against them. They felt forced to do the age test and they thought it was a reliable method, however the results showed the opposite. This led to devastating consequences for the informants such as mental illness, homelessness and exploitation. My result shows that all these factors, and how they affect one and other, is an expression of power