North West Regional Strategic Migration Partnership

Asylum and the path to citizenship: A case study of Somalis in the United Kingdom

R Tuck, UNHCR, 2011

This article argues that although the policy has been dropped, the rhetoric and concepts of "active citizenship" are still current in policy circles, with the goal of social cohesion replacing multiculturalism, which is judged by some to have impeded integration . Using a Somali case study, the article attempts to assess the impact of these policy ideas on refugee communities in the UK. Specifically, it addresses the following questions. How does "active citizenship" affect refugee integration? Is it a policy which could lead to better integration for refugees or more discrimination? Why is integration of refugee communities seen as problematic?

Who's still missing? Refugees, migrants and the equality agenda

P McCarvill, Equality and Diversity Forum, 2011

Coinciding with the introduction of the new public sector Equality Duty in April 2011, EDF commissioned this research to explore what lessons can be learned from the implementation of the previous Race Equality Duty and to consider how public authorities can most effectively use the new Duty to incorporate refugee and migrant communities into their core work.

The work of the UK Border Agency (November 2010 - March 2011)

House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, 2011

Concerns as stated in the report are as follows:

• 403,500 of the backlog of approximately 450,000 asylum cases have now been concluded, but the Committee notes that while only 38,000 (9%) of the applicants have had their claims rejected and subsequently been removed from the UK, 161,000 (40%) have been given leave to remain – such a large proportion that it amounts in effect to an amnesty – and as many as 74,500 cases are being achieved as the applicants cannot be found and it is unknown whether they are in the UK, have left the country voluntarily or are dead;
• The e-Borders scheme – which has been the lynch-pin of successive Government's programmes for controlling the UK's borders – is still running significantly behind timetable and the Agency is pursuing a claim against the previous IT contractor who was dismissed for contract breaches after being paid £188 million;
• The Agency has not carried out checks on all those employers registered as sponsors of skilled migrants, it does not systematically follow up intelligence of possible illegal migrants and there are grave doubts whether it has even the capacity to carry out the checks on sponsors and individuals.

 

Preventing and detecting immigration and customs offences: A thematic inspection of how the UK Border Agency receives and uses intelligence

Independent Chief Inspector of UK Border Agency, 2011

At the time of this inspection, the Chief Inspector was pleased to find evidence that:

• intelligence had been used in particular operations to prevent and detect immigration and customs offences; and
• the development of Local Immigration Teams and Field Intelligence Officers provided an opportunity for the Agency to work closely with a range of organisations, from whom information could be obtained and developed into intelligence.

However, the Chief Inspector was concerned to find that:

• the Agency failed to routinely capture whether allegations received from members of the public had been acted on or how many had resulted in the prevention or detection of immigration or customs offences;
• there were inconsistent views regarding the role intelligence should play and whether the Agency could or should be intelligence-led;
• intelligence assessments did not take into account the quality of decision making when seeking ministerial authorisations to discriminate; and
• different methods were used by frontline staff at ports of entry to identify the people or vehicles that required further examination, with no analysis of which of these best identified potential offences or offenders.

 

Unsustainable: The quality of initial decision-making in women's asylum claims

H Muggeridge and C Maman, Asylum Aid, 2011

This research was conducted to examine in detail the quality of the initial decisions made by UKBA when women claim asylum. It argues that women were too often refused asylum on grounds that were arbitrary, subjective, and demonstrated limited awareness of the UK's legal obligations under the Refugee Convention, with 50% of initial decisions being overturned on appeal. The report includes recommendations for UKBA, the Country of Origin Information Service and the Legal Services Commission.