‘Conditions at a privately run immigration removal centre have “deteriorated” over the past year to the extent that almost half of the women held there fear for their safety, according to a damning report published by the Chief Inspector of Prisons.’
The Independent, 12th August 2015
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘The chief prisons inspector has called for time limits on the detention of migrants without trial after fresh warnings of a significant deterioration in conditions at an immigration removal centre for women.’
The Guardian, 12th August 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘”Cockroaches” according to Katie Hopkins. A “swarm” according to our likeminded Prime Minister, David Cameron, and The Daily Mail (again). An “army” according to the popular press, who seem to think we should literally send troops into France (without asking the French, we can assume) to hold the thin red line. “Migrants” to others. Why never “refugees”, though, which is what most of them are? What do we know about who these people are — brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers and children, all of them — and why they want to come to the UK?’
Free Movement, 31st July 2015
Source: www.freemovement.org.uk
‘A court has suspended the UK’s fast-track asylum appeals system after a legal challenge by a charity that says it is “structurally unfair”.’
The Independent, 26th June 2015
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘The home secretary, Theresa May, has hardened Britain’s refusal to accept a mandatory European Union refugee quota system being put forward in Brussels this week in response to the Mediterranean migrant boat crisis.’
The Guardian, 11th May 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The number of Eritrean refugees arriving in the UK doubled last year to become the highest total from any single country. But could new Home Office guidance mean many others are refused asylum?’
BBC News, 24th April 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘In Blakesley v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2015] EWCA Civ 141 the Court of Appeal considered whether the UK Government is in breach of its international obligations towards refugees because of the lack of any provision to make back-payments of welfare benefits to those asylum seekers who, upon inquiry, are found to be refugees.’
Free Movement, 12th March 2015
Source: www.freemovement.org.uk
Blakesley v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2015] EWCA Civ 141; [2015] WLR (D) 96
‘The Government was not obliged to make lump sum payments to successful applicants for asylum representing the difference between the support they received while their application was being processed and mainstream benefits.’
WLR Daily, 26th February 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘Migrants and asylum seekers can be locked up at the high-security detention centre indefinitely. Reports of abuse, self-harm and suicide are rife. Now MPs are calling for an end to the ‘expensive, ineffective and unjust’ system. In a rare report, inmates describe their misery.’
The Guardian, 3rd March 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The Home Office has quietly tightened up the criteria for granting British citizenship under the good character test. This had passed me by so I thought it useful to flag up – and many thanks to Alex Moran for point it out. A number of undesirable behaviours have been added to the list of disqualifying behaviour, including illegal entry, assisting illegal migration and evasion of immigration control. The changes seem to have been made on 11 December 2014. The previous version of the guidance can be seen here and the new version here.’
Free Movement, 8th January 2015
Source: www.freemovement.org.uk
‘Law is pretty abstract. Unlike the role of a doctor or a builder, that of a lawyer is difficult to explain to a young mind. When my children eventually ask me about what I do when I “work” (confusingly simultaneously a place I seem to go to and a thing I do at home; either takes me away from them) my plan is to explain that I help strangers from far off places find new homes. Like Paddington Bear.’
Free Movement, 1st December 2014
Source: www.freemovement.org.uk
‘The High Court recently gave judgement in Gudanaviciene & Ors v Director of Legal Aid Casework & Anor [2014] EWHC 1840 (Admin).’
Legal Aid Handbook, 1st July 2014
Source: www.legalaidhandbook.com
‘When formulating country guidance for Sri Lanka in relation to individuals likely to be in need of international refugee protection the Upper Tribunal had been justified in departing from the more generous UNHCR Guidelines in setting out what the risk categories were.’
WLR Daily, 18th June 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘A presumption that members of an alliance of states such as those which comprised the European Union would comply with their international obligations in regard to refugee protection did not extinguish the need to examine whether in fact those obligations would be fulfilled when evidence was presented that it was unlikely that they would be. The removal of a person from a member state of the European Union was forbidden if it were shown that there was a real risk that the person removed would suffer inhuman or degrading treatment in violation of article 3 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. It did not need to be shown that the source of that risk was a systemic deficiency in the asylum and reception procedures of the state to which the person was being removed.’
WLR Daily, 19th February 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘National decision-makers had an independent and autonomous responsibility under the Convention and Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) (Cmd 9171) and (1967) (Cmnd 3906) to determine the applications of those who had applied for asylum. An earlier decision of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (“UNHCR”) to grant refugee status was not binding on the national decision-maker, nor did it create any presumption or shift the burden of proof.’
WLR Daily, 29th January 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Supreme Court, 29th January 2014
‘An Afghan refugee granted asylum in the UK has accepted substantial libel damages over a newspaper accused him of being a member of the Taliban.’
BBC News, 29th January 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘The Home Office is covertly targeting the most vulnerable asylum seekers – those considered mentally unfit, or victims of torture – for deportation as part of the government’s hardline stance on immigration, according to lawyers and charity workers.’
The Guardian, 25th January 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The existence of criminal laws which specifically targeted homosexuals, supported the finding that those persons had to be regarded as forming a ‘particular social group’ within the meaning of Council Directive 2004/83/EC. A term of imprisonment which sanctioned homosexual acts and which was actually applied in the country of origin which adopted such legislation had to be regarded as being a punishment which was disproportionate or discriminatory and thus constituted an act of persecution. When assessing an application for refugee status, the competent authorities could not reasonably expect, in order to avoid the risk of persecution, the applicant for asylum to conceal his homosexuality in his country of origin or to exercise reserve in the expression of his sexual orientation.”
WLR Daily, 7th November 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“Campaigners say conviction of asylum seeker for using fake papers and similar cases is abuse of immigration law.”
The Guardian, 24th August 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
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