In our latest blog, Ihab Maajal, who travelled to Geneva as a youth advocate for Include Youth, writes about his experience of travelling to the United Nations and his pride in winning a Care Day Award. He also sends a positive message to young people everywhere about the power of young people’s activism.

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Ihab Maajal writes:

In the bustling city of Geneva, amidst the corridors of global diplomacy, a pivotal event unfolded – one that resonated deeply with the essence of empowerment and advocacy. Representing Northern Ireland at the United Nations, our team from Include Youth embarked on a transformative journey, championing the rights and aspirations of young people on a UK platform.

A wide range of feelings, including hope, determination, and a deep sense of responsibility, flowed through us as the curtains came down on this historic event. The UN provided a crucial forum for discussing the urgent problems facing today’s youth. This ranged from systemic obstacles impeding their advancement to socioeconomic constraints. Our constant faith in the strength of young voices kept us moving forward and inspired us to work towards real change and acknowledgment.

Our actions are based on a fundamental principle that is sometimes overlooked in the bustle of administrative procedures and policy talks – young people are living people who should be treated with respect and given opportunity. They are not just statistics or paperwork. Throughout all our interventions, this central message resonated, reflecting the feelings of innumerable young people whose voices were ignored for far too long.

Central to our discourse was the critical shortage of skilled professionals within the social work sector, an issue that strikes at the very foundation of youth support systems. Through meticulous research and first hand experiences, we highlighted the glaring gaps in expertise and resources, underscoring the urgent need for comprehensive reforms. By shedding light on this overlooked aspect, we aimed to instigate meaningful dialogue and policy reforms that prioritise the holistic wellbeing of young people.

Getting the Care Day Award was more than just confirmation of our work – it was a symbol of the tenacity and will of all the young people whose hardships and victories we wanted to highlight. Amid the cheers and recognition, at that moment of victory, we experienced a deep sense of humility and thankfulness, realising that our combined efforts may spark change, one discussion at a time.

Let our voices be heard as a ray of hope in the halls of power and decision making, bearing witness to the unwavering spirit of young people’s activism and inclusion. Together, we will keep working towards our goals, speaking up for the under represented, and amplifying their voices until all young people’s aspirations come true and every challenge is conquered.

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The Children’s Law Centre has worked alongside the Children’s Rights Alliance England, Together Scotland and the Wales UNCRC Monitoring Group to produce a series of thematic briefings to inform the Universal Periodic Review (UPR).

What is the Universal Periodic Review?

Approximately every four years, the UK’s overall human rights progress is assessed under the UPR.

The UPR is a process where the countries that are members of the UN Human Rights Council review the human rights progress of UN member states. The UPR is based on the UN Charter and all the UN human rights treaties that have been ratified the country under review.   

The UK will have its next UPR review in November 2022. Prior to the review, the UK Government submit a full report outlining steps it has taken to progress human rights since the its review. Other countries review this information and can make recommendations on where further improvements could be made. The aim of the UPR is to improve the overall human rights situation in each country and share best practice around the globe.

Civil society organisations can present their own reports as part of the process and CLC has worked closely alongside other children’s rights organisations in England, Scotland and Wales to draft the following briefings to assist in informing the review, in the context of the state of children’s rights in the UK:

General Measures of Implementation

Non-Discrimination and Participation

Child Poverty

Mental Health

Education

Access to Justice

Immigration

Policing and Child Justice System

Speaking out on ‘World Refugee Day’ the Children’s Law Centre (CLC) and South Tyrone Empowerment Programme (STEP) have said the treatment of asylum-seeking children and their families in ‘contingency accommodation’ settings is “cruel, unnecessary and avoidable”.

The two organisations had recently published a report highlighting the lived circumstances of asylum-seeking children and their families being accommodated in ‘contingency accommodation’.

The report, jointly submitted upon request to the Council of Europe Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, highlights a number of potential rights breaches. The report was also endorsed by four other organisations – Conway Education Centre, Participation and Practice of Rights (PPR), Barnardo’s Northern Ireland and South Belfast Sure Start.

Fergal McFerran, Policy and Public Affairs Manager at CLC, said: “We are deeply concerned about the reports coming from residents who are living in ‘contingency accommodation’ settings and the community and voluntary sector organisations providing emergency support to them. The experiences of vulnerable children in particular are very worrying. We believe there are significant children’s rights breaches occurring and urgent, joined-up action is required to prevent these from continuing.

“We have been working alongside a number of organisations to call for action. This must include duty bearers working together urgently to address any rights breaches, and listening to those affected, namely residents, to co-ordinate an effective response.

“Beyond that, the ‘hostile environment’ created by the UK Home Office must end. It is driving refugees and asylum seekers into destitution and ill health, rather than allowing them to contribute positively to society. However, in the meantime, duty bearers cannot hide behind the Home Office and must continue to uphold key rights.”

Bernadette McAliskey, CEO at STEP, added: “The treatment of residents living in ‘contingency accommodation’ settings is cruel, unnecessary and avoidable. Asylum seeking children have rights that must be upheld. Yet, it is deeply worrying to hear reports of new mothers who cannot get access to basic goods and equipment to care for their babies, or families who have had their access to recreational activities severely curtailed. It is also clear that access to education has been severely limited, with no effective overarching strategy evident to address this.

“We will continue to work alongside other organisations to raise these issues and give a voice to asylum-seeking children and their families. We need to see urgent and co-ordinated action to address the failures and uphold the rights of those affected.”

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 2^nd 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

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.

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.”

Immigration solicitors at the Children’s Law Centre have raised serious concerns around the Nationality and Borders Bill. The solicitors have said the Bill will harm children, increase the risk of child trafficking and encroach on devolved matters in relation to trafficking and child protection.

Read our briefing note

The concerns have been raised ahead of the Westminster committee stage of the Bill, starting on Tuesday 21 September. The committee is expected to report to the House by Thursday 4 November 2021.

Barbara Muldoon, Immigration Solicitor at the Children’s Law Centre said: “The Children’s Law Centre remains deeply concerned about the wide-ranging impact the Nationality and Borders Bill will have on vulnerable children in this jurisdiction. We have made some good progress in relation to tackling trafficking over the last decade, but this will undo that progress.

“The Bill, as it stands, represents a major departure from long-standing international obligations and domestic law. Yet the consultation process fell massively short of basic standards. It’s notable that the vast majority of immigration practitioners have been critical to date.

“When it comes to vulnerable children and child victims of trafficking, the matter should be dealt with as a child safe-guarding issue. Yet the Nationality and Borders Bill seeks to weaken child safeguarding duties. Children will be put at increased risk of trafficking and re-trafficking, at risk of being criminalised and at risk of being detained in adult detention centres. This is far from acceptable.

“With child protection and the prevention of trafficking both being devolved matters, the Bill also massively over-reaches. We have heard concerns from practitioners in other jurisdictions concerning this already. It’s likely we are going to see decades of litigation in relation to this matter.

“We need to see a concerted effort to amend the Bill during the committee stage. As a minimum, it must remain compatible with the 1951 Refugee Convention and other domestic and international commitments. We also need to ensure mitigations are put in place by the NI Executive to protect our devolved powers and ultimately to protect children from the worst reaches of the changes.”

Briefing Note – The Nationality and Borders Bill: Implications for Children, Anti-Trafficking Measures and Devolution

The Children’s Law Centre has raised alarm at the UK Government’s New Plan for Immigration and the impact it will have by curtailing children’s rights, placing vulnerable children in extreme danger. The alarm was raised after the Home Office consulted on the new plan and measures were announced in the Queen’s speech.

Find the CLC consultation response here

Immigration lawyers at the Children’s Law Centre say the plans water down child protection safeguards, place children at increased risk of exploitation and trample on devolved matters.

Speaking after hearing confirmation of new measures in the Queens’ Speech, an immigration solicitor from the Children’s Law Centre, Maria McCloskey said: “The proposed New Plan for Immigration creates a two-tier immigration system that will put vulnerable and traumatised children in harm’s way by sending a horse and cart through children’s rights and protections. It runs contrary to important obligations under international law, tramples on domestic laws and encroaches on devolved issues in Northern Ireland.

“The general tone and intent of the sweeping changes is deeply concerning. There is a well-established international framework for providing sanctuary and security to asylum seekers and the UK Government is proposing a seismic shift away from this. The continued assertion that routes are illegal, when it is well established that this is in fact contrary to the Refugee Convention is troubling. There is also a constant effort to attribute criminality to a group of people who are in fact the victims of criminality. There is no such thing as a good and bad refugee, just people fleeing for safety.

“At the Children’s Law Centre, we provide legal assistance to the majority of separated children and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who arrive in Northern Ireland. We are talking about very traumatised, scared and vulnerable children. Under these new rules they would be treated as a separate and secondary tier of asylum seeker, by refusing to grant them full refugee status and the ability to remain in the UK. We have no doubt the changes will put them at increased risk of exploitation, act as a barrier to protection and add significant trauma to an already challenging process.

Read analysis of the changes from CLC immigration solicitors here

“Instead of placing children in more danger, the Home Office should be looking at ways to improve rights protections for children. They should be working on ways to provide legal routes for family reunification, ensuring primary decision making is improved, and making decisions that are lawful in the first instance. If tackling people smuggling is the aim, then provide safe and legal routes for asylum seekers.

“Children should not be punished for their nationality or immigration status. They should be protected from harm.”

The proposed new immigration plan by the UK Government will trample on the rights of some of the most vulnerable children in Northern Ireland, breaching international obligations, domestic laws and devolved matters.

The changes depart from a range of international obligations and standards such as the 1951 Refugee Convention, the European Convention on Human Rights, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. They contradict a number of domestic laws, including the Borders Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 and the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Criminal Justice and Support for Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2015. Significantly, for Northern Ireland, the plan also encroaches on devolution; trampling powers held by a number of NI Executive departments, statutory bodies and the courts.

This is the analysis of specialist immigration solicitors within the Children’s Law Centre. The Children’s Law Centre’s immigration solicitors provide advice in relation to looked after children who are in the care of social services and whose immigration status is insecure. They also advise and represent the vast majority of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASCs) in Northern Ireland, working with the Health and Social Care Board, all five Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland and Barnardo’s Independent Guardian Service. The team within the Children’s Law Centre holds extensive experience in representing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who have been subject to the asylum application, National Referral Mechanism and other immigration application processes.

What is the New Plan for Immigration?

The proposed plan includes a number of major changes including:

• A two-tiered system for people arriving in the UK.
• The introduction of temporary protection status.
• Significant changes to processing procedures.
• Changes to referral mechanisms.
• New enforcement methods.

Download the Children’s Law Centre’s response to the ‘New Plan for Immigration’

Many of these new changes will hit children the hardest, including separated children, UASCs and the children of asylum-seeking families. The result will see the diminution of children’s rights, including safeguarding rights and the legal child protection framework. Traumatised children will be put at risk of abuse, neglect and destitution, as well as a heightened risk of trafficking and re-trafficking.

The Watering Down of Child Protection and Safeguarding Duties

The new plan, if implemented, will create a number of new bodies with a range of powers. One of the most significant in relation to children is the National Age Assessment Board (NAAB). Where the primary duty of age assessments, currently carried out by social services, is to protect children, the NAAB will focus on immigration control. The Children’s Law Centre, and a wide range of community and civic organisations believe this is going to have a devastating impact on the well-being of children. It will dramatically increase the risk of vulnerable and traumatised children being held in detention centres, instead of getting the support they need for social services. The NAAB also opens the door to dubious age assessment methods that are entirely opposed by medical professionals and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Another significant change will include a new ‘one-stop’ process that will curtail appeal rights by requiring frightened and traumatised children to immediately reveal the totality of abuse and harm they have endured. This is going to have a number of significant implications for UASCs in particular by introducing cut-off points around entitlements to protection. With many UASCs being extremely traumatised, it can often take time for them to ‘open up’ about their experiences of trafficking and abuse. This could now have implications for their access to protections. Excluding children from entitlement to safeguarding and protection from abuse is inhumane and a clear breach of Article 3 of the UNCRC and section 55 of the Borders Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009.

The proposals to withdraw financial support for asylum seekers who are deemed by the Home Office to have ‘failed’ to gain status is also deeply worrying, signaling a system of enforcement driven by the starvation and destitution of children.

Then there are additional plans seeking to erode protections for stateless children and raising the standard of proof for persecution. It is also alarmingly unclear whether detention for non-compliance with immigration rules will apply to children, or that separated children and UASCs could be placed in the newly expanded asylum estate when they turn 18. This all paints a bleak picture for the shift towards removing rights and protections from seriously vulnerable, traumatised and at-risk children.

The Heightened Risk of Trafficking and re-Trafficking

Rather than any pretence of streamlining the immigration process, it is clear to everyone outside the Home Office that the new plan will heighten the risk of trafficking and re-trafficking of children. By raising the ‘reasonable grounds’ threshold for sign-posting a child to be the victim of trafficking, children are being placed at risk of exploitation by preventing them from accessing necessary protection and support.

Separated children and UASCs may also, by the nature of their journey, be eligible for no more than temporary status under the new changes. This is due to the lack of a legal route for children to reunite with family members, described as a ‘blanket prohibition’ in the UK. This already drives vulnerable children towards trafficking, but failure to gain full status after arrival would heighten the risk of exploitation even further.

The plan completely fails to address this risk to children entering the UK. This is not a small number of vulnerable children either. Between 2010 and 2018, over 10,000 separated and unaccompanied children were granted asylum or some other form of protection in the UK. Rather than looking at how these children can be protected, the plan could be viewed as an attempt to close off the route altogether by increasing the risk of exploitation or detention of vulnerable children.

The Encroachment on Devolution

For Northern Ireland, the plan also encroaches on transferred matters under the devolved settlement. The creation of the NAAB in itself seems to ride roughshod over duties to protect children under NI law. In Northern Ireland, Social Services have a duty to conduct age assessments for the purposes of assessing what duties are owed to children under The Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995. However, the NAAB attempts to supersede this legislation and create a new process for conducting age assessments based on border control.

The new plan for immigration also looks troubling in its approach to trafficking. Again, trafficking is not a reserved matter, it is devolved. The identification and protection of victims, and the prevention of trafficking, are duties that fall to the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Public Prosecution Service, the various Health and Social Care Trusts, the Independent Guardian Scheme and the Northern Ireland Court Service. All issues that fall under the control of the Executive.

A Dubious Consultation Process

Finally, it is unclear or perhaps even unlikely that the consultation process for the new immigration plan fulfilled legal requirements. With a lack of detail often apparent in the proposals, a lack of time for respondents to properly complete their responses and a closed process around the opportunity to respond, meaningful engagement was significantly curtailed. A fait accompli presented to respondents.

There is almost universal opposition to the majority of the plans. This was clear throughout the consultation process. It is now down to the UK Government to engage meaningfully with the submissions that are received and to take them on board before any new legislation is introduced.