The report, called Safe at Last? Children on the Front Line of Border Control, which was conducted by campaign group Refugee and Migrant Justice, has called on the UK Border Agency to rethink its policy of interviewing new entrants to the UK before dealing with their welfare.
Some of the young people questioned are also denied access to medical treatment despite being ill or suffering serious injuries. Interviewing them as soon as they arrive also skews their answers and could affect their asylum claim, Refugee and Migrant Justice is arguing.
The group believes that the policy is illegal and has made an application to the High Court for a judicial review on the issue.
The report details the case of one child who was suffering from bomb blast injuries and stab wounds when he arrived. Another had gunshot wounds. Both were detained and interviewed before being offered medical care.
Caroline Slocock, chief executive of Refugee and Migrant Justice, said: "Unaccompanied children coming into Dover arrive hungry, cold and often ill, having travelled for months in situations of great danger, fleeing war-torn countries like Afghanistan in order to find safety in the UK.
"Their welcome is an interview by the UK Border Agency that often puts welfare at risk and is used to gather information which is later used against them. Such interviews, carried out without any independent adult or legal representative present, and sometimes without the right interpreters, would be entirely unacceptable anywhere else in Britain. Children should not be treated in this way."
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