Petition · Home Office

Stop use of facial AI age assessment for unaccompanied asylum seeking children

Open for signatures 36 signatures

What the petition asks

We believe using facial AI age recognition is unreliable and ethically unsustainable. Government must stop this approach and develop a multidimensional tool assessing biological, cognitive, developmental and emotional age of traumatised unaccompanied asylum seeking children.
The Government plans to legislate very soon to use facial AI to determine the age of unaccompanied asylum seeking children. There is strong evidence that such a method of physical age assessment can be highly inaccurate, and technically as well, as it does not necessarily capture relevant aspects such as child development, their level of understanding, and emotional maturity. Thus we believe age assessment methods that solely focus on physical features are unethical, and risk vulnerable children being treated as adults.

Timeline

28 Jul 2026 Petition opened for signatures

Key facts

Signatures 36
Status Open for signatures
Department Home Office
Opened 28 Jul 2026

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 29 Jul 2026.