UN Report Catalogue of Failings in Home Office’s ‘Flawed’ Asylum System
A devastating catalogue of failings in the Home Office’s “flawed and inefficient” asylum system has been uncovered in a damning UN report. The eight-month audit of the UK’s asylum system by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) picked apart the government’s immigration policy to reveal a deeply dysfunctional department.
The 200-page report found that children were wrongly detained as adults, trafficking victims were potentially missed, vulnerable people were locked up, and laws and government policies were violated.
It concluded that:
Officials had “inadequate training” and interview skills to identify victims of torture, trafficking and rape
“Incomplete, inaccurate or unreliable” information was being taken from asylum seekers
Children were being accused of lying about their age by officials with “no formal training or guidance”
Home Office staff were wrongly discouraging people from claiming asylum, or trying to persuade them to withdraw claims
Asylum seekers were being “left in limbo at a higher cost” to the government because they were deemed ineligible after passing through safe countries
The report, in which Home Office staff told of their “frustration” that government policies were slowing down the system and driving up costs, comes a day after The Independent revealed that officials were considering strike action over the plan to deport people to Rwanda.
Read morea: Lizzie Dearden, Independent, https://tinyurl.com/2p89u98t
EU Accused of ‘Staggering Neglect’ After Just 271 Afghans Resettled Across Bloc
Many in need of permanent protection remain stuck in ‘prison-like’ camps on Greek islands, leading refugee charity says, Just 271 Afghans were resettled in the EU in 2022, 0.1% of the 270,000 identified as in need of permanent protection, it has emerged. Leading charity the International Rescue Committee accused EU leaders of “staggering neglect” of Afghan refugees with many remaining trapped in “prison-like” conditions on Greek islands.
In a damning report, the International Rescue Committee claims EU member states have “consistently” failed to deliver on legal resettlement promises leaving many Afghans who do reach the EU borders “vulnerable” all over again. It claims that not a single person has arrived under a scheme established in Germany in 2021 to resettle up to 1,000 Afghans a month, while Italy has taken just half the refugees it promised.
Between 2021 and 2022, about 41,500 Afghans at risk were admitted to the EU, many through ad hoc emergency evacuations in August 2021. “While the IRC welcomes each of these efforts, this response remains vastly insufficient,” the IRC reports said. Some countries have not taken any Afghans at all since Kabul fell and the country was taken over by the Taliban, according to its report, Two years on Afghans still lack pathways to safety in the EU.
Read more: Lisa O'Carroll , Guardian, https://tinyurl.com/5dtrdywr
Channel Migrants Tragedy: Five French Soldiers Accused Of Failing To Help
French police have charged five soldiers over the deaths of 27 people who sank while trying to cross the English Channel on 24 November 2021. They are among nine people detained for questioning. They are accused of failing to help the stricken boat, a judicial source said. Some 15 calls from the boat were ignored, French media reported. The disaster is the worst of its kind on record. The migrants were mostly Iraqi Kurds, and aged seven to 46.
News of the indictment was welcomed spokesperson for Utopia 56, an organisation representing the migrants. "We can only be delighted that things are progressing from a criminal point of view," said Flore Judet. The small craft sank shortly after leaving the French coast, leading to the death of all but two of those onboard - comprising men, women and children.
Le Monde newspaper previously reported that passengers had first contacted officials in France's Channel rescue centre at 01:48, saying their boat was deflating and their engine had failed. The group reportedly sent their location by WhatsApp 15 minutes later, but authorities failed to answer. Rescue teams eventually responded 10 hours later, after fishermen raised the alarm.
Read more: BBC News, https://tinyurl.com/yd3vyc8x
Judicial Bias Against Presenting Officer Amounts to an Error of Law
The Upper Tribunal has set aside a decision of the First-tier Tribunal after finding the hearing was unfair because of the conduct of the judge and the failure to adjourn the case when the Home Office Presenting Officer raised concerns over her personal safety. The Upper Tribunal in MS (judicial interventions, complaints, safety concerns) [2023] UKUT 00114 found that this was an error in law.
Bias: In relation to bias the case of Magill was applied: could a fair-minded and informed observer be given the impression of bias. The tribunal said that the recording revealed that the conduct of the judge was “overbearing and intimidatory” towards the Presenting Officer. Several examples are given in the decision, the judge at one point telling the Presenting Officer “not to bother” taking instructions as the only way to address the deficiencies of the refusal letter would be to withdraw it. This was prior to the judge rising to consider the appellant’s updated bundle. The Judges conduct indicated that her mind was closed as to the outcome of the appeal and that she had intended to allow it regardless, and that this amounted to an error of law.
Read more: Freemoevement, https://tinyurl.com/muzs68ws
Latest Policy on Reporting Conditions
In January this year, the Home Office updated its guidance on reporting conditions, again. Version 6 was published on 19 January 2023, replacing version 5 which was in place for less than six months, from 30 June 2022.
Version 5 was very much a welcome development in terms of reporting conditions. It adopted the interim guidance introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, and introduced a “blended approach” to reporting, where most individuals would be put on telephone or digital reporting with the possibility of being called back for physical reporting from time to time.
Version 6.0 The current version of the Reporting and Offender Management policy disappointingly retreats from these developments.References to first-time asylum applicants not having to report have now been completely removed.The blended reporting approach remains, and the guidance still makes clear on page 15 that individuals should be put on blended reporting.
Not Reading Their Own Policy
Such inconsistencies and lack of clarity risk poor decisions being made by front-line caseworkers when deciding on appropriate bail and reporting conditions. We believe that a reporting centre caseworker could read the table on page 13 of the guidance and deny a change to telephone reporting. Or read page 15 and make the opposite decision. This is not a well-written policy.
Read more: Freemoevement, https://tinyurl.com/2p77spn9
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UK Still Receives Far, Far Fewer Asylum Claims Than Other European Countries
Home Office immigration statistics highlights
Asylum claims, small boats, the backlog, detention, removals, work visas, students, family, settlement and citizenship
It is worth noting that asylum claims are going up around the world and Europe. The UK still receives far, far fewer claims than other European countries,
Immigration detention is down, with 20,416 people entered immigration detention in the year ending March 2023, 20% fewer than in the year ending March 2022.
But the percentage of people facing longer periods of detention has increased.
Enforced returns were down 46% compared to 2019 to 3,860. The vast majority of these are foreign national offenders not failed asylum seekers. Nationalities being returned mainly EU: Albania (25%), Romania (18%), Poland (8%), and Lithuania (7%).
Very few of the enforced returns are asylum-related.
Overall, visas issued were up quite dramatically. Most of the students will eventually return, so will eventually show up on the emigration side of the net migration figures in future years.
The data contained in this bulletin, is 100% Accurate
Colin Yeo, Freemovement, https://tinyurl.com/4ysh582p
Importance of the Immigration Rules in Human Rights Appeals
When will the spirit of the rules be met?
Following the abolition of the “not in accordance with the immigration rules” ground of appeal by the Immigration Act 2014, several cases have considered the relevance of the immigration rules in human rights appeals. The Upper Tribunal has neatly encapsulated the current position in a recent case, Caguitla (Paragraphs 197 and 199) [2023] UKUT 116.
Immigration rules are relevant in two ways:
Where it can be demonstrated that the requirements of the rules are met, there is no public interest in the person’s removal.
Where the spirit, albeit not the letter, of the rules can be met an appellant may be able to demonstrate that removal would be disproportionate.
This post considers each of these in further detail, before going on to consider when it may be possible to demonstrate that the spirit of the rules has been met.
Read more: Freemoevement, https://tinyurl.com/2p95ub8n
Secret Home Office Policy to Detain People With NHS Debts At Airport Found Unlawful
A secret Home Office policy to detain people with the right to live in the UK at air and seaports has been found to be unlawful in the high court. The policy applied to those with unpaid NHS debts and was only uncovered through evidence gathered from charities and lawyers fighting the cases of two mothers who were repeatedly detained.
The women were held at ports when trying to re-enter the UK after trips abroad to visit family, because they had outstanding debts to the NHS for maternity care – debts which Home Office was aware of when granting them leave to remain in the UK. While the women were only detained with their children for short periods they did not know when they would be released. Border Force officials detained and investigated them because they were flagged on the Home Office system as having unpaid NHS debts.
In a judgment handed down today Mr Justice Chamberlain found that the two women and their young children were falsely imprisoned by the home secretary without justification. He also found that Suella Braverman had breached her duty to consider the equality impact of the policy on women, who are known to be disproportionately affected by NHS charging.
Read more: Diane Taylor, Guardian, https://tinyurl.com/4swtbhca
Calendar of Racism and Resistance Asylum | Migration | Borders | Citizenship
Asylum and Migrant Rights
16 May: A leaked letter reveals that the Home Office is to ‘fast-track’ asylum claims by Iranians and Iraqis, who will be required to complete detailed questionnaires in English and attend a shortened interview, with non-compliance leading to refusal of claims.
17 May: In Portugal, immigrants with reside|ncy rights launch a petition for family reunification rights, stating that they have been left in limbo since the immigration authorities (SEF) stopped giving appointments, with none available across the country.
18 May: Euro-Med Monitor’s new report, ‘Happiness, love and understanding’: the protection of unaccompanied minors across the EU reveals that compared with accompanied minors they suffer more detention, disappearances, and lack of education.
16 May: Prime minister Rishi Sunak uses his address at the Council of Europe summit to argue for stronger action to end ‘illegal’ migration, and defends his plan to ignore rulings from the European Court of Human Rights over the Rwanda policy.
19 May: Dozens of asylum seekers in Wales find themselves without legal representation as law firms are forced to drop their cases because retrospective legal aid funding means they wait for years while the Home Office fails to decide asylum claims.
23 May: The home secretary Suella Braverman is accused of breaking the ministerial code over a failure to formally disclose years of previous work with the Africa Justice Foundation, a charity providing training to Rwandan government lawyers. Several people she worked with are now key members of President Paul Kagame’s government and are involved in the UK’s £140m deal to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Borders and Internal Controls
10 May: Rescues in the Channel by the volunteer-run Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) increased from 9 in 2013 to almost 100 in 2021, it is reported, as the UK coastguard tasks RNLI to rescue migrant boats in distress.
19 May: Video fo}otage of an illegal ‘pushback’ in April in Lesvos, Greece, is published by the New York Times, which says the footage amounts to a ‘shocking indictment’ of the centre-right government which has always denied the practice and is currently fighting an election campaign on the basis that its immigration policies are ‘tough but fair’.
Reception and Detention
10 May: Internal EU documents obtained by Al Jazeera reveal that a new generation of EU-funded refugee camps on the Greek Aegean islands struggle to deliver basic services and safeguards to even the most vulnerable asylum seekers, with sexual and other violence impacting children.
11 May: Afghan refugees uprooted from London to a Yorkshire hotel in March receive an eviction notice signed by Suella Braverman, as the Home Office says residents may not receive an offer of alternative housing and must find their own accommodation.
14 May: The chief executive of the Irish Refugee Council says the Department of Housing and the Dublin Region Homelessness Executive must act urgently to expand their homeless service to assist asylum seekers sleeping rough and targeted by the far Right.
15 May: An investigation by the Irish Times finds that almost a dozen companies were paid more than €10 million each under State contracts to provide accommodation to asylum seekers, with one hotel group paid more than €80 million from State contracts.
16 May: As protesters block road access to a hostel being used to house asylum seekers in Inch, Co Clare, Ireland, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin says the government and local authorities will engage with communities to ‘ease’ their concerns. Clare Immigrant Support offers assistance to the newly-arrived asylum seekers.
18 May: The Italian government announces that Friuli Venezzia-Giulia will be the first region in northern Italy to host a ‘hotspot’ to accommodate an upsurge in migrants arriving via the ‘Balkan route’ and will include a detention and repatriation facility.
22 May: In Ireland, police launch an investigation after a 70-year-old man is hit in the face by a torch after approaching two men protesting against migrants in School, Co Clare. In Santry, Dublin, a small group of masked men stop taxis and buses entering the Airways Industrial Estate, as a new anti-migrant blockade begins.
20 May: An investigation at five Home Office hotels in and around Liverpool hears reports of institutional abuse by hostile and racist staff, intimidation of vulnerable people, poor management of medicines, and instructions to deny people food and water.
21 May: Over 20 groups in Falmouth protest the use of the ‘floating prison’ Bibby Stockholm to house asylum seekers claiming it will re-traumatise vulnerable people many who have already experienced sea-related trauma.
Deportations
19 May: Defence minister James Heappey refuses to support an Afghan air force veteran who served alongside British forces and is facing deportation to Rwanda having arrived in a small boat. The minister refuses to correct his false statement to parliament that ‘hundreds of thousands’ of Afghans have applied for resettlement.
22 May: An Afghan colonel who worked with UK forces in Helmand province and was forced to flee to the UK in a small boat after his resettlement application went unanswered is threatened with deportation to Rwanda.
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