A review and critique of the updated Country Policy and Information Note (CPIN) on human trafficking in Albania which was published in February 2023.

The government’s new guidance on trafficking in Albania that was published in December 2022, unlike its predecessor, newly asserted that asylum claims by trafficked men and boys are likely to be certifiable as “clearly unfounded” under section 94 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. David Neale of Garden Court Chambers carefully reviewed the evidence referenced in the CPIN and related Fact Finding Mission, and found this claim to be wrong and unsupported by the remainder of the CPIN, finishing with recommendations for lawyers preparing such cases.

The CPIN was updated by the Home Office in February 2023 with some additional information addressing the support available in Albania for victims of trafficking. David Neale has critiqued this updated version in an addendum to his original review. He concludes that “trafficked boys and men who exhibit some or all of the TD and AD risk factors are likely to be at risk of re-trafficking in Albania, and will not be adequately protected by the Albanian state. Claims by trafficked men and boys are not suitable for certification as clearly unfounded.”

These papers are crucial reading for any lawyers representing Albanian boys and young men.

Click here to view the main review of the December 2022 CPIN. 

Click here to view the addendum review of the February 2023 update to the December 2022 CPIN.

In September 2022 David Neale reviewed a new Country Policy and Information Note (CPIN) on blood feuds in Albania which was published in September 2022. He found that the evidence in the September 2022 CPIN is “plainly insufficient to justify a departure from EH.”

The Home Office have since published a new CPIN based on the evidence in a Fact Finding Mission (FFM) published online in January 2023. The new CPIN similarly argues for a departure from EH. David Neale has completed a detailed review of the new CPIN and its reliance on the accompanying FFM, and finds that the evidence is still insufficient to justify such a departure.

David finds: “The new CPIN presents a partisan and inaccurate picture of the risks from blood feud in Albania. Its claim that the Albanian authorities now provide a sufficiency of protection against blood feuds is open to doubt. The sources cited do not provide the “strong grounds supported by cogent evidence” required to depart from the Country Guidance case of EH. It would be wholly wrong for cases to be certified as clearly unfounded on this basis.”

For the review of the new 2023 CPIN please click here.

To download David Neale’s previous review of the September 2022 CPIN: Albanian blood feuds: Another unconvincing CPIN – Paper by David Neale (September 2022).

David Neale, Legal Researcher at Garden Court Chambers, argues that the old country guidance case of DM is not an accurate reflection of the current position, and that many Albanians who fear domestic violence at the hands of their families will not be able to avail themselves of a sufficiency of state protection. This includes some boys and young men. David also explores the vulnerability of some domestic violence survivors to trafficking/exploitation on return, even where they have not been trafficked in the past.

This seminar is particularly useful to lawyers representing Albanian nationals and in assessing merits in Albanian asylum claims, including those who are challenging certification decisions by Judicial Review.

To view the seminar paper click here.

A seminar paper accompanies an online seminar of the same title intended to help lawyers in assessing merits in Albanian asylum claims – both prepared and delivered by David Neale of Garden Court Chambers.

The paper and seminar focus principally on asylum claims based on blood feuds, but also deal with asylum claims based on domestic violence and human trafficking.

David Neale argues that these claims, in general, have strong merits: lawyers should be pursuing appeals and fresh claims in these cases and, where they are certified, should be pursuing challenges by judicial review.

Click here to view the paper or view the seminar below.

This report, published by Asylos in collaboration with the Asylum Research Centre (ARC) Foundation, covers nine key research areas relating to the trafficking of Albanian boys and young men and includes interviews with ten different individuals and organisations.

This important piece of research aims to fill the gap in the COI literature about the situation of Albanian boys and young men who are victims of trafficking.

The findings of the Asylos report are discussed further in David Neale’s paper Albanian boys and young men: the risk of trafficking and re-trafficking on return.