Windrush scandal: Concern over wait for compensation – BBC News
‘Campaigners say they are concerned about the low number of compensation payments to victims of the Windrush scandal.’
BBC News, 4th May 2021
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Category: citizenship
500 Windrush victims waiting more than a year for compensation – The Independent
‘The government is being urged to remove the Windrush compensation scheme from the Home Office after new data showed 214 applicants have been waiting more than 18 months and five people more than two years.’
The Independent, 2nd May 2021
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Windrush scandal victim Richard Black to return to UK after 38-year exile – The Independent
‘A Windrush man who has been stranded in Trinidad and Tobago for almost 40 years after his UK citizenship was withdrawn is set to return to Britain.’
The Independent, 29th April 2021
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Home Office Windrush decision was irrational, holds High Court – EIN Blog
‘Hubert Howard was born in 1956 and came to the United Kingdom in 1960, aged almost 4 from Jamaica. He was part of the Windrush Generation. No doubt like all West Indians of that time, including my parents, he thought he was a British Citizen.’
EIN Blog, 27th April 2021
Source: www.ein.org.uk
Home Office unlawfully refused Windrush citizens status over minor criminal records, High Court rules – The Independent
‘Windrush victims have been unlawfully denied British citizenship on the grounds of minor criminal records, the High Court has ruled. In a judgement handed down on Friday, the Home Office was found to have wrongly imposed the “good character” requirement on Windrush cases, which led to people who have been in Britain for decades being refused citizenship on the basis of minor convictions.’
The Independent, 24th April 2021
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Watchdog steps in over secrecy about UK women in Syria stripped of citizenship – The Guardian
‘The Home Office’s refusal to disclose the number of women who, like Shamima Begum, have been deprived of their British citizenship after travelling to join Islamic State is under investigation by the information commissioner.’
The Guardian, 29th March 2021
Source: www.theguardian.com
British nationality law reform aims to remove Windrush anomalies – The Guardian
‘British nationality laws are to be reformed to remove a number of anomalies that have recently led to people from the Windrush generation being refused citizenship – despite the Home Office admitting that its own errors led to them being ruled ineligible.’
The Guardian, 18th March 2021
Source: www.theguardian.com
Michael Foran: Shamima Begum, the Separation of Powers, and the Common Good – UK Constitutional Law Association
‘The Supreme Court has come under significant criticism for its handling of the Shamima Begum case, decided on 26 February. Much has already been said in relation to the deference that the court showed to the executive, with some arguing that it was improper or even a complete abdication of the judicial role itself. This post seeks to clarify what precisely the court did and did not do in relation to the exercise of its constitutional duty to review the legality of executive action. It will suggest that the Court did not engage in any strong deference as to the nature of Begum’s rights nor to the balance to be struck between those rights and the common good. Such questions remained wholly within the purview of the Court. While the Court did pay due respect to the executive’s authority to determine and pursue the common good, this was subject to an assessment of lawfulness. Any deference, if it can even be called deference, was to the rule of law, given both the statutory scheme in question and the common law distinction between review and appeal. The determination of the scope of individual rights entails an exercise of judicial interpretation which seeks to strike an appropriate balance between the applicable legal considerations. It is not deference for the court to include constitutional principles such as the separation of powers within those considerations.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 17th March 2021
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
High court rejects bid to extend UK’s EU settlement scheme – The Guardian
‘The high court has rejected a legal bid for an extension to the EU settlement scheme (EUSS), dismissing campaigners’ concerns that those EU residents who fail to apply to remain in the UK before July could face “devastating” consequences, similar to those experienced by the Windrush generation.’
The Guardian, 11th March 2021
Source: www.theguardian.com
Daniella Lock: The Shamima Begum Case: Difficulties with ‘democratic accountability’ as a justification for judicial deference in the national security context – UK Constitutional Law Association
‘No doubt much will be written on the Supreme Court’s Shamima Begum ruling handed down on 26 February. The ruling has a number of notable features. In particular, a high level of deference was afforded to the executive which seems to contrast with the Supreme Court’s approach in high profile constitutional cases of recent years (such as, for example, in the Miller cases). A key feature of this deference is that it is offered in a national security context, where judicial deference has often played a role. This deference is partly justified by the Court on the grounds that Ministers are democratically accountable for national security decisions. However, as this post argues, the extent to which democratic accountability is a legitimate ground for judicial deference to national security decisions is questionable in light of current UK practice. This post raises three difficulties with relying on democratic accountability as a ground for deference in the UK national security context.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 9th March 2021
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
Shamima Begum and The Humpty Dumpty Supreme Court – Oxford Human Rights Hub
‘On 26 February 2021, the Supreme Court refused permission for Shamima Begum to return to the UK. The Supreme Court judgment in the high-profile case of the British woman who left the UK as a 15-year-old girl to travel to Syria to join the so-called Islamic State, however, resulted in the Court effectively washing its hands of the case staying it until a full hearing can occur in future—a remote possibility. In the judgment, Lord Reed held the Court of Appeal was in error by substituting its own view of the balance to be struck between national security and the applicant’s rights. In so doing, the Court of Appeal did not give the Secretary of State’s assessment due respect. In this brief post, I wish to focus on a principal aspect of the Supreme Court’s judgment: the concept of deference.’
Oxford Human Rights Hub, 8th March 2021
Source: ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk
Shamima Begum: SSHD strikes back in Supreme Court – EIN Blog
‘Ms Shamima Begum was born and raised in the UK. She was a British citizen at birth and at age 15 she travelled to Syria with two friends and soon afterwards she married an ISIS fighter and is currently detained in poor conditions in the Al-Roj camp run by the Syrian Democratic Forces. She now wishes to return home to the UK to have a fair and effective appeal. She was deprived of her British citizenship on 19 February 2019 because the SSHD believed that her return would present a risk to national security. She applied for leave to enter (LTE) the UK so that she could pursue an appeal against the deprivation decision. The Court of Appeal unanimously held that the only way Ms Begum, can have a fair and effective appeal is to be permitted to come into the UK to pursue her appeal. King, Flaux and Singh LJJ found that fairness and justice must – on the facts of her case – outweigh any national security concerns. But in a twist of fate, the Supreme Court unanimously held in favour of the SSHD and found that the right to a fair hearing does not trump everything else, such as the public’s safety. The court took the view that if a vital public interest makes it impossible for a case to be fairly heard, then the courts cannot ordinarily hear it. Therefore, her deprivation appeal should be stayed until she can play an effective part in it without compromising the public’s safety.’
EIN Blog, 7th March 2021
Source: www.ein.org.uk
Supreme Court: Shamima Begum may be barred from UK – UK Human Rights Blog
‘Since 2019 when Shamima Begum was found in a camp in north Syria, her hopes of returning to the UK have ebbed and flowed (see here and here). Stripped of her British citizenship, she brought three sets of legal proceedings. Last week, after a ruling by the Supreme Court, her hopes receded once more. The Home Secretary was entitled to refuse her entry to the UK to pursue her appeal against the loss of citizenship, the Court ruled. So, Ms Begum’s appeal has been stayed, pending some change in her circumstances which will enable her to participate in a hearing – albeit from outside the UK.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 1st March 2021
Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com
Shamima Begum: Isis member loses Supreme Court battle to return to UK – The Independent
‘Shamima Begum has lost her legal battle attempting to return to the UK to fight for her British citizenship. The Supreme Court found that the former Isis member did not need to be in the country to have a “fair and effective appeal”, overturning a previous ruling by the Court of Appeal.’
The Independent, 26th February 2021
Source: www.independent.co.uk
UK’s £1,000 child citizenship fee ruled unlawful by appeal court – The Guardian
‘Home Office fees of £1,000 for children to register as British citizens are unlawful, the court of appeal has upheld in a landmark ruling.’
The Guardian, 18th February 2021
Source: www.theguardian.com
EU Settlement Scheme – Read the small print – EIN Blog
‘The EU Settlement Scheme is being hailed as a great success, with well over 5 million people who have now applied under the scheme and one might be persuaded to consider it as being a good thing. It would have been much better however, if it had not been a constituent scheme, where people who had been living in the country for decades, were forced to “apply to prove their right to live here” or else face the might of the hostile environment.’
EIN Blog, 4th February 2021
Source: www.ein.org.uk
Home Office ignored warnings that could have prevented Windrush suffering, finds watchdog – The Independent
‘The Home Office ignored warnings that could have prevented some of the suffering experienced by the Windrush generation, the government’s own immigration watchdog has said.’
The Independent, 13th January 2021
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Home Office leaving stateless people facing detention and destitution, warns UN – The Independent
‘The Home Office is leaving stateless people in the UK at risk of homelessness, destitution and prolonged detention, the UN’s refugee agency has warned. A procedure designed to help regularise the status of stateless individuals in Britain is not functioning as well as it should due to procedural weaknesses and the approach to decision-making, the UNHCR said.’
The Independent, 16th December 2020
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Home Office sued by family of Windrush man refused UK citizenship – The Guardian
‘The family of a Windrush man denied British citizenship on the grounds that he failed a good character requirement are suing the Home Office to try to change legislation, arguing the rules are racially discriminatory.’
The Guardian, 10th December 2020
Source: www.theguardian.com
Racism within the Windrush compensation scheme – The Guardian
‘The Guardian’s Amelia Gentleman wrote her first story on the Windrush scandal almost three years ago – yet she is still hearing from people facing injustice. Alexandra Ankrah, the most senior black Home Office employee in the team responsible for the Windrush compensation scheme, discusses why she resigned this year, describing the scheme as systemically racist and unfit for purpose while Samantha Cooper describes her frustrations with trying to access financial help.’
The Guardian, 24th November 2020
Source: www.theguardian.com
