Friday 30 April 2010

Almost 80 per cent of asylum seekers wrongly refused legal representation at appeal

Almost 80 per cent of asylum seekers wrongly refused legal representation at appeal

A ground-breaking project at Devon Law Centre has found that asylum seekers are being wrongly refused publicly-funded legal representation for their asylum appeals in 79 per cent of cases, and that at least 30 per cent of these people have a legitimate claim to some form of protection.

Thursday 1 April 2010: The project’s final report warns that recent reforms to legal aid have made it harder for asylum seekers to get a fair hearing. The report includes several compelling case studies in which people were only recognised as refugees after the project had secured representation for them at appeal.

In one case, a Chinese woman who had been detained and tortured for her trade union activities was refused asylum at her first appeal where she was unrepresented, but was granted a second appeal, which she won, after the project obtained legal representation for her.

Since June 2007, the project has been referred 75 asylum seekers refused Controlled Legal Representation on the grounds that their cases had insufficient merit. Devon Law Centre appealed against those refusals to an Independent Funding Adjudicator in every case. 59 of those appeals were allowed.

Jean-Benoit Louveaux, the asylum appellate lawyer who runs the project, said:

“Asylum seekers come to the UK fleeing persecution such as torture, rape, indefinite imprisonment without trial, and extra-judicial execution. It is a damning indictment of the UK that those seeking sanctuary here are then denied a fair hearing.

The project has shown that recent reforms to legal aid have made it much harder for asylum seekers with a valid claim to prove their case.

If the project’s results were repeated across the country, it would mean that asylum seekers are being wrongly refused publicly-funded legal representation for their appeals in almost four out of every five cases - and that a significant number of these people have a legitimate claim to some form of protection. It is time we acknowledge that asylum seekers do not represent a large wave of illegal immigration but a small persecuted minority which the UK government has abandoned.”

Read the report: Asylum_Appellate_Project_Final_Report.doc

Monday 26 April 2010

Equality Act 2010 – IDS Brief feature article available for free

IDS Employment Law Brief has published an extensive, in-depth analysis of the Equality Act 2010.

The feature article, ‘Equality Act 2010 – the future of fairness?’, reviews the main changes that the Act will introduce to discrimination and equal pay law.

It draws attention to new pitfalls for employers and highlights the measures that will depend on the result of the General Election.

The article, which will appear in the next edition of IDS Brief, is now freely available to subscribers and non-subscribers alike.

The article also highlights the extent to which the Act’s impact is still unknown. Section 1, for example, introduces a new duty on public bodies to address socio-economic inequality arising from social class or family background.

This could leave public bodies open to judicial review proceedings for failure to consider the duty when recruiting.

There are also important changes to the territorial scope of discrimination law.

Currently, those who work ‘wholly or partly’ in Great Britain are protected, subject to certain criteria, as are some employees who work wholly outside Great Britain.

The Equality Act is silent as to its territorial scope, leaving it open to a narrower interpretation by judges. The feature article is available free to help lawyers, HR professionals, trade unionists, public bodies and employees prepare for the changes contained in the Act’s 251 pages.

Subscribers will receive a comprehensive IDS Employment Law Guide to the Equality Act 2010, taking into account the position of the next Government, later this year.Feel free to circulate this article to all who may find it useful.

Click here to view the article.Click here for more information on IDS Employment Law Brief.