Migrant Children's Project Newsletter
May 2019
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minutes to help us improve them by completing our short survey here. Age assessment policy found to be unlawful The Court of Appeal has found that the Home Office policy relating to assessing age by immigration officials to be unlawful. The court looked at the policy of the Home Office to treat children claiming to be under 18 as adults where immigration officials believe their 'physical appearance/demeanour very strongly suggests they are significantly over 18 years of age'. This case related to a child arriving in the UK in 2014 - the Migrant Children's Project had provided a witness statement during the initial case. The policy had since been amended by the Home Office in 2017 due to a separate court decision. The Court of Appeal looked at both the guidance in 2014 and the amended guidance. It found that the original policy at the time of detention, as well as the amended policy “does not properly identify the margin of error inherent in the conduct of initial [age] assessments… [and] creates a significantly greater risk than would otherwise arise of children being unlawfully detained as adults.” The Home Office has already amended their guidance, which now states that the child will be treated as an adult if 'their physical appearance and demeanour very strongly suggests that they are 25 years of age or over'.
https://www.childrenslegalcentre.com/immigration-policy-on-assessing-age-of-young-asylum-seekers-found-to-be-unlawful/ Support CCLC at this year's London Legal Walk It may not be the biggest sporting achievement of the year, but thirty staff and supporters of Coram Children's Legal Centre are gearing up for the London Legal Walk in June to raise vital funds for our work to protect and promote the rights of all children. If you can, please consider donating through our fundraising page here - 100% of donations go towards our work. If you work for a legal firm that might direct some of the money they raise through this walk to our work, please put them in touch with us at [email protected]. And finally, if you'd like to put on your walking shoes and join us around London on the evening of 17 June, drop us a line! Young Citizens - looking for new members! Coram's Young Citizens are looking for 16-25 year olds from migrant and refugee backgrounds based in Brent, Barnet and Harrow to help design and run workshops for other young people.
Young people taking part in the programme will: Get free training in public speaking and workshop facilitation Help design new workshops for young people from similar backgrounds Get paid to run workshops in colleges Young people can apply to take part here: https://www.coram.org.uk/youngcitizens. Please share this if you can!
If you have queries about these or other issues, please contact our advice line at [email protected].
Our upcoming training courses Our courses can all be booked online - just visit our Eventbrite page! An introduction to the rights of children and young people in the immigration system
Coram Campus, London Thursday 27 June 2019, 2pm - 5pm Access to education for migrant children
Coram Campus, London Thursday 17 October 2019, 2pm - 5pm The rights and entitlements of young refugees and migrants Coram Campus, London Thursday 6 June 2019, 10:30am - 4pm For more information and to book, please see our eventbrite page. To commission in-house training for your organisation, please see our website. New reports and guidance EU Settlement Scheme
House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, May 2019
Albania: trafficked boys and young men
Asylos, May 2019
Assessing age for asylum applicants
Home Office, updated May 2019
Latest news
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48451424
BBC News, 30 May 2019
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/may/17/transfer-of-vulnerable-child-refugees-from-france-to-uk-to-end-charities-say-home-office
The Guardian, 17 May 2019
https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2019-05-08/HCWS1543/ Parliament website, 8 May 2019
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/may/02/child-trafficking-victim-wins-85000-in-state-compensation-over-sexual-assault-home-office-ministry-of-justice-morton-hall
The Guardian, 2 May 2019 Let us know what you think! Do you use our website, publications or advice line? Your thoughts and feedback help us ensure that we're providing the right information and support. Please take two minutes to complete our short survey.
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