Research from the University of Liverpool’s Law School was recently referenced in a House of Lords debate on the Illegal Migration Bill this week.
The ‘Lives on Hold: Our Stories Told’ project, in collaboration with the Shpresa Programme and the Migrant and Refugee Children’s Legal Unit [MiCLU], was referenced on Monday [12 June] in support of an Amendment to remove Albania from the list of safe states listed in the Illegal Migration Bill.
The core of the Illegal Migration Bill is a legal requirement for the Home Office to deport anyone arriving in the UK without the Home Secretary’s permission. Creating this legal requirement is intended to remove any possibility for the Home Office to consider the person’s individual circumstances.
The bill is nearing its final reading in the House of Lords, with the report stage commencing 28 June 2023.
Baroness Lister of Burtersett, who tabled the Amendment, painted a stark picture of the reality of young Albanians seeking asylum in the UK based on conversations with young people “related to how they are talked about and perceived, by politicians and the media in particular, which frames discussions about the rights of Albanians to enter and staying in the UK.”
“The young people talked about how hurtful and injurious to their identity it was to be constantly talked about as criminals with no right to be here,” she said.
ESRC-funded research with young Albanians seeking asylum, conducted with Professor Helen Stalford as Principal Investigator, was used to evidence the complex ‘mixture of exploitation, cultural blood feuds, trafficking, and organised crime’ driving the search for asylum. This evidence was raised in the debate of significant and outstanding issues in Albania, which had been previously reported to the Joint Committee of Human Rights.
Baroness Lister shared: “While Albania may be a safe country for many people, it is not safe for everyone. There are some very vulnerable people—people who have fled extremely difficult circumstances that none of us would want to face—who have sought asylum here and been granted asylum here for good reason.”
A number of the Albanians seeking asylum interviewed through the research are unaccompanied children.
As many as 424 unaccompanied children from Albania were granted leave to remain in 2022. The Home Office also granted protection status to 700 Albanian nationals, including 60 unaccompanied children, in the same year.
Baroness Lister emphasised that “listing Albania as a safe country could well lead to such children’s claims being deemed inadmissible, and them therefore being returned to situations of significant risk.”
However, the members of committee called for the amendment to be withdrawn, despite significant evidence in support of the removal of Albania. Legal observations from the UNHCR on the Bill suggested that the inclusion of Albania on the list of countries from which asylum and human rights claims are deemed inadmissible “raises concerns inter alia about a possible breach of Article 3 of the Refugee Convention, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of nationality.”
The Joint Committee of Human Rights (JCHR) also warned that ‘the automatic return’ of Albanians ‘without any consideration of their claims could potentially place the UK in breach of the principle of non-refoulement in circumstances where individuals may face a real risk of persecution or a violation of their Convention rights upon return.’
Responding to the debate, Professor Stalford, Head of the Liverpool Law School said: “We are extremely disappointed in the outcome of this Parliamentary process. It is abundantly evident from conversations with young people who have fled Albania to seek asylum in the UK, that the country should not be classified as a safe state, and it is profoundly disturbing that the proposed law will not recognise this.
“Albanians seeking asylum in this country should have access to support, not be branded as criminals, and we should all be outraged at the extent to which this law undermines the basic rights and welfare of vulnerable children.”
You can read the full debate in full here: Illegal Migration Bill – Hansard – UK Parliament