something more the police would kick me out without documents. I was scared. I was then told to step to the side for fingerprints. The Iranian woman said two or three times that I should say I came for a better life. The interview took five minutes.137 He told Human Rights Watch that he had fled from Afghanistan on his own at the age of 13 because he was threatened by a local commander: There was a commander. His name was (he whispers) [name withheld]. Always when I went to work – they stopped me and told me to come with them. This person wanted to keep underage boys for dancing and more. I got scared and left Afghanistan. At that time I was 13 years old. I went to Iran alone.… My father is old. The commander threatened me and said if I complained to anybody he would kill me. He had two other boys who were underage with him.… When the government of Iran decided to deport Afghans I was afraid to go back and I decided to move to Europe.… You can speak to anybody in [location withheld] and ask about [name of commander withheld]. He’s a very bad person and everybody knows him.138 Even though authorities are obliged to take into consideration child-specific forms of persecution when children file asylum applications, Hamed P. was not given a chance to explain the circumstances behind his escape from Afghanistan.139 The UNHCR guidelines for assessing asylum applications by Afghan nationals specifically mention that unaccompanied children continue to be exposed to exploitation and that there are cases of boys who are abducted for sexual exploitation.140 137 Human Rights Watch interview with Hamed P., Athens, June 4, 2008. 138 Human Rights Watch interview with Hamed P., Athens, June 4, 2008. 139 Presidential Decree 96/2008, art. 9.2(f). Scholars argue that the recent jurisprudence expanded the meaning of persecution to include several child-specific forms, such as child abuse, child sale and trafficking, or vulnerabilities arising out of being a street child. Also, certain behavior (such as the witnessing the death of close relatives) do not rise to the threshold of persecution for an adult but may do so for a child. See Jacqueline Bhabha, “Children, Migration and International Norms,” in: T. Alexander Aleinikoff & Vincent Chetail, Migration and International Legal Norms, T.M.C.Asser Press, The Hague, 2003, p. 217. 140 UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), “UNHCR’s eligibility guidelines for assessing the international protection needs of Afghan asylum seekers,” Afghanistan, December 2007, http://www.unhcr.org/cgibin/texis/vtx/refworld/rwmain?docid=477ce70a2&page=search (accessed August 26, 2008) pp.64-72. The guidelines 49 Human Rights Watch December 2008