Events

This free event aims to critique the Home Office practice of certifying most Albanian asylum claims, including those of children, as clearly unfounded – denying people the right to appeal the decision in the UK. Speakers will cover Home Office practice in this area and asylum claims arising from blood feuds, trafficking and domestic violence. Participants will learn about tools to challenge Home Office practice and increase successful outcomes for Albanian children and young people. Taking place on Wednesday 19 June 2019 from 6.30pm-8pm at Garden Court Chambers, to register click here.

This free event marks the launch of Breaking the Chains, a partnership project dedicated to improving outcomes for Albanian children and young people seeking asylum in the UK. Funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, this project works with children and young people in the asylum system, providing them with high quality casework while listening to and amplifying their voices to share our learning about how best to protect this vulnerable group. The project also offers a chance to think strategically about the issues faced by Albanian children and young people, and to harness their energy and talent to provide peer support within and across communities. The event is targeted at lawyers, social workers, academics, foster carers, teachers, NGOs and campaign groups working with and for Albanian children and young people, but will be useful for anyone working with children and young people in the asylum system. Come and hear from children and young people and those representing them. Taking place on Thursday, 25 April 2019 from 16:30 to 18:30 at the Houses of Parliament, to register click here and to view the programme click here.

This free event taking place on Friday, 1 June 2018 aims to bring together specialist barristers and solicitors to consider how legal professionals and others who support young Albanians in the UK can ensure that children from Albania are granted meaningful protection against the risks of return to abuse in their country of origin or further exploitation in the UK. The event proper starts at 2.15-5pm (with soft reception and light lunch from 1.15pm) at the Houses of Parliament (Portcullis House) and is jointly organised by MiCLU and Shpresa Programme, and sponsored by the Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP. Young people will be present to speak about their experiences and answer questions, and expert speakers will talk on the following topics: Blood feud cases and challenging the country guidance Representing trafficking victims and strategic litigation considerations Child-centred case work and how to work with young people Review of country of origin literature and addressing the gaps in research For more information about the challenges working with unaccompanied Albanian asylum-seeking children read here. For the event programme click here. To register click here.

This event seeks to increase understanding of the lives, circumstances and protection needs of Albanian young people . It will bring together practitioners, legal specialists, policy makers and academics working in the field together with Albanian young people. It will combine input from expert speakers with action-planning workshops around key issues such as blood feuds and the impact of ‘Kanun,’ domestic violence (including forced marriages and honour killings), factors affecting the lives of LGBT young people, and human trafficking. For more details and to register click here.

This free evening event at the Houses of Parliament, sponsored by the Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP, aims to gather and give voice to practitioners across a range of disciplines who provide care, support and legal representation to Albanian children, young people and women, along with experts working in the field of anti-trafficking and international protection, to help understand the lives and circumstances of this forgotten group and fundamental issues of culture, and to help dispel the myths that perpetuate and act as a barrier to achieving protection and durable solutions for vulnerable members of this community. For the event programme click here. To register click here. Please contact Luljeta Nuzi at shpresaprogramme@yahoo.co.uk for registration questions.

This one-day conference is for front line practitioners (police; social workers; lawyers, health workers), policy officers and academics interested in better understanding the causes and consequences of trafficking for children and young people. The conference will aim to explore the development of holistic integrated interdisciplinary approaches to finding durable solutions for trafficked young people, increasing their protection in the present and for the future. It is being organised by the Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile, the Children’s Society, ECPAT UK and the Helen Bamber Foundation, together with MiCLU. For more details and to register: Exploring the Causes and Consequences of Modern Child Slavery

This free, one-day conference, jointly organised with Birkbeck, University of London, aims to bring together young activists, academics and practitioners to share empirical and theoretical knowledge and tactics to understand how to advocate and organise around justice for young immigrants. Participants will have an opportunity to engage with the issue of precarious citizenship, which affects significant numbers of young people settled in the UK (some 120,000) who do not have British citizenship, and to work collaboratively and creatively to link advocacy around justice for young im/migrants to anti-racist and other progressive movements in the UK and elsewhere.

This one-day conference, organised with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health is for anyone with an interest in the subject of unaccompanied, asylum-seeking children. It is a knowledge-sharing, discussion-based event bringing together professionals from the health sector, education; social care; the legal system; the public sector; the voluntary sector, and other government agencies, to encourage integrated working. The summit will bring a wide range of delegates together to ask vital questions, such as: How do we work together to respond? What are the most effective ways to implement existing policies, standards and guidance in the real world? Who else is out there for help and support? For further details and to register: Child Refugee Conference