A critical examination of UK asylum determination in the case of acutely vulnerable groups

The question of how best to protect refugees and other migrants arriving in Europe has emerged as one of the most pressing humanitarian issues in recent years. To date the European institutions and EU member states have been unable to agree on a sustainable solution that can adequately respect the human rights of more than a million asylum seekers who have arrived on European soil in the past twelve months. At the same time, it is widely acknowledged that many more remain trapped in regions of origin facing an uncertain future characterised by poverty, insecurity and violence.

The UK government operates a Vulnerable Person Relocation Scheme to identify those who are particularly vulnerable in regions of origin with a view to resettling them in the UK. To date the numbers who have benefited from the scheme have been lamentably low. The media coverage following the death of Aylan Kurdi in 2015 seemingly altered the public mood and David Cameron’s government were compelled to dilute their hardline on resettlement by offering 20,000 places over five years to vulnerable Syrian nationals using the scheme. Yet the scheme continues to attract considerable criticism, not least because it only applies to Syrian nationals in the region of origin. The scheme will not be used to identify vulnerable persons trapped in European countries and the UK government have resolutely refused to join EU resettlement quota plans. Underpinning this policy is the suggestions that those who adopt irregular methods of travel are inherently less likely to be in real need of protection. The label ‘irregular’ or ‘undocumented’ is used to blur boundaries between the “deserving” refugee and the “underserving” economic migrant with the consequence that many in urgent need of protection continue to be victims of exploitation and further violence. The face of the asylum seeker is also changing as more than half of the latest arrivals are now women and children. Age and gender increase the likelihood of acute vulnerability. It has been estimated that over three-quarters of those women who manage to enter and claim asylum in the UK have been victims of sexual violence or rape (Oppenheim, 2015). Research further suggests that victims of such violence are particularly likely to experience further incidents of exploitation following their arrival.

The issue of acute vulnerability is at the heart of this project which seeks to examine the identification and protection of vulnerable groups through the asylum determination process. It is anticipated that the successful applicant will consider how asylum procedures and reception conditions respond to the needs of one particular vulnerable group. The application of human rights norms and humanitarian law as well as soft law and the operation of the EU Common Asylum System will need to be fully explored.

The project may focus on an established category of vulnerability such as unaccompanied child asylum seekers or victims of torture and assess how the needs of these groups are reflected in current asylum procedures and reception conditions. Alternatively, the project may make a case, based on a clear theoretical underpinning, for the identification of other categories of vulnerability within the refugee diaspora. The methodology will involve a review of the existing legal requirements pertaining to the selected vulnerable group followed by a critical consideration of the application of the normative framework which will identify protection gaps. The need to give a voice to the experiences of the most vulnerable is something that the successful candidate will want to explore. The protections deficit may therefore be informed by empirical research consisting of interviews with claimants and/or their legal representatives.

Entry Criteria
UK 1st Class/2:1 Bachelor’s degree (or UK equivalent according to NARIC), or 2:2 with UK Masters degree with minimum of merit in law or social science. The applicant will have undertaken research involving asylum policy at some point during prior study.