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Equality Commission To Investigate High Street Voucher Scheme

19 December 2021
Sam Nelson
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Categories: News

19 December 2021

The Equality Commission has decided to authorise an investigation into the High Street Voucher Scheme. The investigation follows a complaint from a young person, under 18, who alleged that the Department for the Economy failed to comply with its approved equality scheme when making the decision to exclude under 18s. The young person has been assisted in their complaint by the Children’s Law Centre.

Claire Kemp, Policy Officer at the Children’s Law Centre said: “Decision makers have a duty to ensure the decisions they make do not adversely impact or discriminate against sections of the population. This includes children and young people. To ensure they avoid making decisions that discriminate they have to carry out an equality screening exercise at the earliest opportunity. In this case it was clear the Department for the Economy failed to do that.

“We’re happy to assist this young person in their complaint and are pleased the Equality Commission has authorised an investigation. The Department was in the position to publicly announce the High Street Voucher Scheme in February 2021 but evidently failed to carry out an equality screening exercise until the young person complained. In fact, the screening document provided to the young person was completed, signed off and published on the same day as the response to their complaint on 10th September 2021. This was not the earliest opportunity as is required, it was an afterthought.

“Children and young people under the age of 18 play a vital role in our society. They contribute to the economy, play a crucial role in many parts of the high street economy and played a key role in navigating our way through some of the darkest months of the pandemic. Rather than treat them as an afterthought, we should be looking at ways to include them in the recovery.

“What chance do children and young people have against discrimination if Executive departments fail to uphold even their own equality duties?”

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Heightened Risk of Child Trafficking “Deeply Concerning”

1 December 2021
Sam Nelson
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Categories: News

01 December 2021

Speaking ahead of the 2021 Children’s Law Centre Annual Lecture, UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons Especially in Women and Children, Professor Siobhán Mullally has raised her fears that the Nationality and Borders Bill will heighten the risk of trafficking and re-trafficking for child refugees.

Professor Mullally’s lecture will be delivered on Thursday 2nd December at 3:30pm and is titled ‘Responding to Child Trafficking: Rights Vs Rhetoric’. The lecture comes only a week after at least 27 people, including children, drowned crossing the English Channel. Following the tragedy, the UK Home Office was widely criticised for its hostile environment towards refugees and asylum seekers.

Speaking ahead of the lecture, Professor Mullally said: “The Nationality and Borders Bill is deeply concerning in its hostile approach towards refugees and asylum seekers. Immigration practitioners and human rights organisations have consistently raised concerns that the identification of victims of trafficking will become more difficult. Indeed, the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner has also made this very point. I have also officially written to the UK authorities, along with other relevant Special Rapporteurs, to highlight my concerns about the Nationality and Borders Bill and its compliance with the State’s obligations under international law to prevent trafficking in persons.

“There is little doubt that the risk of trafficking or re-trafficking will increase as a result of this Bill, particularly in relation to children. It will make it more difficult to identify victims or potential victims of trafficking, with changes to the ‘reasonable grounds threshold’ particularly concerning. It will also weaken access to services that meet the complex individual needs of victims of trafficking, and potentially treat child refugees as criminals.

“There is an established international rights framework set up to protect refugees and prevent trafficking. Such serious departure from this framework, coupled with the current rhetoric towards refugees, will have devastating consequences for people, including very vulnerable and traumatised children. Rather than address the refugee crisis and tackle trafficking, the Nationality and Borders Bill is a gift to people smugglers.”

Paddy Kelly, Director at the Children’s Law Centre added: “We are very pleased that Professor Mullally agreed to deliver our 2021 Annual Lecture. It comes at a critical moment where much of the good work carried out in this jurisdiction to tackle the causes and effects of child trafficking could be undone. It also highlights the importance of a strong rights framework, including domestic implementation of those rights in the protection of children. Just last week we witnessed the terrible impact of the failure to protect the rights of refugees and asylum seekers. Until we recommit to the 1951 Refugee Convention and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, we will continue to fail child refugees.”

Download our briefing paper on the Nationality and Borders Bill

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“The Dark, The Fear, The Cold And The Desperate Hope”

25 November 2021
Sam Nelson
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Categories: News

25 November 2021

Children’s Law Centre Immigration solicitors have offered their condolences in response to the tragic loss of life in the English Channel. The solicitors have highlighted the lack of safe, legal routes as a key factor putting refugees at risk. They have also warned that the situation will worsen as a result of the Nationality and Borders Bill, and current rhetoric painting refugees as criminals.

Barbara Muldoon, Immigration Solicitor at the Children’s Law Centre said: “We would, first and foremost, like to offer our sincere condolences to those who have lost loved ones in this tragedy. Probably every single person on that boat had someone who was waiting to hear that they had crossed safely. I can’t imagine the grief they currently feel.

“It is deeply troubling to encounter a loss of life on this scale. The lives of vulnerable, innocent people who were desperate for a safer life, including a number of young children.

“At the Children’s Law Centre, we represent the majority of unaccompanied asylum seeking children in this jurisdiction, in their application for asylum. Almost every young person has recounted the horror of small boat crossings at some stage of their journey. The dark, the fear, the cold and the desperate hope. It’s difficult for many to understand quite how desperate that is, but it is the reality they face.

“We owe it to these people to look at why a tragedy like this happens, and we can’t hide from the fact that this loss of life was preventable. Immigration practitioners have made it clear for a long time that this is the reality forced upon refugees due to the lack of safe and legal routes to asylum. Separated and unaccompanied asylum seeking children in particular have no other option due to the ‘blanket prohibition’.

“We also need to face up to the reality that the Nationality and Borders Bill, alongside the current UK Government rhetoric towards refugees and asylum seekers is not going to prevent this. In fact, the vast majority of practitioners agree that things will get worse by further criminalising refugees and weakening safeguarding measures for child refugees. Clause 40 of the Nationality and Borders Bill would even have made it a criminal offence to intervene and attempt to save these drowning people, including women and children.

“We need to collectively denounce the dangerous rhetoric around refugees and face up to the reality that there is no ‘migrant crisis’ in the UK. There is no ‘influx of migrants’. Those coming to the UK are seeking asylum. They have a legal right to do so under the 1951 Refugee Convention. We must re-commit to international obligations and ensure that we protect these people, including young vulnerable children, from exploitation, from the clutches of traffickers and from perilous journeys.”

  • A briefing note on the impact of the Nationality and Borders Bill on children, anti-trafficking and devolution can be found here.
  • Statistic on asylum in the UK can be found here.
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Decade of Delay on Key Youth Justice Recommendations

23 November 2021
Sam Nelson
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Categories: News

23 November 2021

Children’s rights in Northern Ireland are being compromised by a failure to implement youth justice review recommendations

That’s the key message after the launch of a new expert led research report, jointly commissioned by four leading third-sector organisations – Children’s Law Centre, Include Youth, NIACRO and VOYPIC – Voice of Young People in Care.

Download the Report

The independent research, titled ‘Tracing the Review: Developments in Youth Justice in Northern Ireland’, was conducted by Dr Siobhan McAlister and Dr Nicola Carr, experts in the field of youth justice in this jurisdiction. It tracks the progress of several key recommendations made a decade ago in the Youth Justice Review and was launched in Parliament Buildings on Tuesday 23rd November at 1pm.

The new report draws particular attention to the lack of progress in relation to raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility, a key recommendation from the Youth Justice Review. It also outlines a number of key findings, including the need to ensure compliance with children’s rights and human rights standards.

Paddy Kelly, Director at the Children’s Law Centre said: “In this jurisdiction, we have one of the lowest ages of criminal responsibility in Europe, and indeed the world. The recommendation to raise the age of criminal responsibility is one of the key elements of the Youth Justice Review ten years ago but it has remained unimplemented. The UNCRC clearly recommends raising the age to 16 and the NI Executive has a duty to comply with UNCRC obligations. We cannot cherry pick children’s rights.

“Failure to raise the age has serious real world impacts on vulnerable children. Rather than addressing the failures that have pushed young people towards the criminal justice system, we are criminalising them. This in turn can have lifelong negative impacts, both on the children affected and the criminal justice system itself.”

Read the Report

Dr Paula Rodgers, Policy Co-Ordinator at Include Youth said: “The overuse of remand and the placement of children into custody remains areas of concern. The recommendations of the Review concerning the development of alternatives to custodial remand have not been brought forward, and such lack of alternatives remain a fundamental weakness in provision.

“Whilst numbers are small the simple fact is one young person held in custody is one too many. A further concern is that care experienced young people are disproportionately represented in these numbers and this is something that needs to change as a matter of urgency.”

Olwen Lyner, Chief Executive of NIACRO said: “Legislation should be brought forward to give effect to all aspects of Recommendation 21 of the Youth Justice Review, with respect to criminal records. This is particularly the case with respect to recommendation 21a of the Review “to ensure diversionary disposals do not attract a criminal record or be subject to employer or more general disclosure”.  

“Indeed, the recent judgment in relation to the judicial review on the Rehabilitation of Offenders and the necessary policy consultation that will follow, gives an opportunity for these issues to be dealt with.”

Alicia Toal, Chief Executive at VOYPIC, said: “Whilst overall numbers of children and young people held in custody have declined, we are concerned that children and young people from care continue to be over-represented amongst those on remand and in custody under PACE provisions.  Compliance with children’s rights standards would ensure that custody is only used as a measure of last resort.  This report highlights the need for urgent action from the Executive, to ensure better outcomes for all children across the region.”

Tracing the Review: Developments in Youth Justice in Northern Ireland 2011 – 2021

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My Perspective on Belfast

4 October 2021
Sam Nelson
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Categories: News

04 October 2021

A young refugee, who arrived in Belfast as an unaccompanied asylum-seeking child, has written an open letter to the Lord Mayor of Belfast. The young person was assisted in their claim for asylum by specialist immigration practitioners at the Children’s Law Centre. The letter details the young person’s love for the city and how they have settled since arriving. It was be read at Belfast City Council’s October full council meeting.

Titled ‘My Perspective on Belfast’ the letter outlines how the now young adult feels “safe” in the city among the “friendly and sociable” people. It demonstrates the incredible resilience and positivity of a young person who arrived alone and scared, and how they’ve adapted to life as a new citizen of Belfast.

The open letter comes as controversial immigration and asylum changes are progressing through Westminster. The Nationality and Borders Bill, which has been widely criticised by immigration practitioners, will have devastating consequences for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. Solicitors at the Children’s Law Centre have raised significant concerns that it will put them at increased risk of trafficking and will prevent them from accessing the quick, specialist services they need during a traumatic time.

Speaking ahead of the council meeting, Immigration Solicitor Maria McCloskey said: “The Children’s Law Centre represents the vast majority of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in this jurisdiction. We witness the impact of the trauma these children have endured and the vulnerable position they are in, with 40% of our clients recognised as potential victims of trafficking. To see how settled one of those young people has now become, and how positive they are about their new home in Belfast, is heart-warming. I’m so pleased to have been able to help them.

“However, we can’t hide from the fact that if the Nationality and Borders Bill was in place, 96% of the asylum claims made by the separated or unaccompanied asylum-seeking children we represent, would have been considered inadmissible. This means they would not have been entitled to the full protection of the Refugee convention of 1951. The government would, first, have tried to remove them to another country. Had they been unable to remove them, they would have granted them short term permission to remain, without access to any benefits or help with housing, leaving them potentially homeless and destitute in the future. The reality is that these are vulnerable children and changes to the asylum process on this scale are going to put them in harm’s way. It also undermines positive devolved efforts to tackle trafficking in recent years.

“Not to mention the dangerous rhetoric around refugees coming from the Home Office, the Bill also criminalises people who are legally seeking asylum. Refugees are not criminals just because they seek asylum. We are talking about people like you and I who have lost their home through war, fear or persecution and have nowhere to turn. Children, alone, trying to reunite with far off family members, or in the grips of modern slavery.

“This letter shows the reality of who we, as legal practitioners, support in our work. It is an example of the difference we can make by ensuring safe arrival, quick action and the opportunity to live a life without fear. An example of what will be lost if the worst reaches of the Nationality and Borders Bill are not curtailed.”

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