Exploding myths – the link between youth unemployment and immigration

This week’s report by the Commission on Youth Unemployment revealed some extremely worrying stuff about youth unemployment in the UK –   over 1 in 5 of all young people are neither in training, education or employment (NEET), and youth unemployment is at its highest for two decades. The Commision’s report, chaired by David Miliband, received

“The Appellant is stateless … ”: finding a solution to statelessness in the UK

Guest post by Russell Hargrave. Russell is the Communications and Public Affairs Officer for Asylum Aid.

For too long, the situation facing stateless people in the UK has been little understood.  In light of this, Asylum Aid and the UN Refugee Agency last week published our joint research report Mapping Statelessness in the United Kingdom. 

Status matters? Forced labour and immigration policy

Guest contributor: Dr Lisa Scullion is a research fellow at Salford Housing & Urban Studies Unit (SHUSU) College of Science & Technology,  University of Salford Salford, Greater Manchester.

In a world characterised by global mobility and increasing economic and forced migration, the UK is home to a diverse range of migrant communities.

Many migrants work on the fringes of low-paid employment sectors under poor conditions. Under these circumstances, immigration policy and insecure immigration status can provide an environment conducive to exploitation by employers.

Negotiating Childhood: Age Assessment in the Asylum System

Guest post by Anna Verley Kvittingen, Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford Department of International Development, University of Oxford.

Determining the age of asylum seekers claiming to be minors is increasingly conceived as an integral part of asylum determination. Yet the large proportion of unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASCs) who have had their claimed age disputed, the frequent applications for judicial review of Local Authorities’ decisions concerning their eligibility for services, as well as the persistence of minors detained under immigration powers lead us to question the purpose and adequacy of current age assessment procedures.