The Refugee and Migrant Children’s Consortium have produced a very helpful briefing around Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.
The briefing considers how the bill will impact migrant children, noting:
- One positive aspect of the bill is that it will repeal Illegal Migration Act (IMA) measures that would have penalised young people for refusing scientific age assessments and limited legal challenges;
- There is still however concern about the continued application of age assessment and modern slavery provisions in the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 (NABA);
- A further concern is that the Bill expands on NABA’s immigration offences, potentially criminalising more people—including children;
- Particularly worrying is the retention of IMA provisions that impose blanket exclusions on individuals from countries such as Albania, Georgia and India from making asylum claims is particularly concerning;
- The Bill presents an opportunity to improve the rights of refugee children in the UK through allowing child refugees to sponsor their immediate family as a logical, humane, and necessary step.
Click here for RMCC’s full briefing.
MiCLU are particularly concerned about the retention of Section 57 of the IMA, which allows for the direct refoulement of nationals to their home country without individual consideration of their refugee claim and will be sharing a more detailed briefing on this aspect of the bill shortly.
