6 March 2024
On Wednesday 6 March 2024, the Bishop of Chelmsford the Rt Rev Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani spoke in support of an amendment by Baroness Lister to the Government's Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill.
The amendment would ensure that any unaccompanied child, wrongly assessed as an adult, is able to challenge their assessment in domestic courts and tribunals from within the UK. Co-sponsored by Bishop Guli, the amendment was later passed by 265 votes to 181.
My Lords, I rise in support of amendment 34. I will keep my comments brief as I fully endorse the statements from Baroness Lister - but please do not mistake my brevity with the level of importance that should be placed on this issue. Safeguarding is not some burdensome requirement but a moral and legal imperative. It is for this reason, I repeat the request that I made at Committee for a child’s rights impact assessment to be published.
It is welcome that the Government have excluded unaccompanied children from the Rwandan partnership but to safeguard potential children effectively, this commitment must be more than a mere intention but one that is operationally put into practice. This amendment would help mitigate the risk of a person being sent erroneously, when they are in fact a child by sensibly awaiting the result of any age assessment challenge before their removal. When it comes to a child, we cannot allow harm to be addressed retrospectively as surely it is the role of any Government to prevent harm, regardless of the immigration objective. Trauma simply cannot be remedied.
The Lord Minister has shared that the Home Office will only treat an individual claiming to be a child as an adult without conducting further inquiries if two officers have separately determined that the individual’s appearance and demeanour strongly suggest that they are significantly over 18. But practice to date shows this is no safeguard at all as it has not prevented hundreds of children being incorrectly assessed as adults.
I would also add that the hotel reinspection report by the Independent borders inspectorate finally published last week states and I quote “there has been no assessment of the collective needs of children" - that is traumatised unaccompanied children who the Home Office had placed in hotels. My Lords, this disturbing finding does not I am afraid provide any reassurance that the Home Office is equipped to ensure children are protected through the age assessment process.
Therefore given errors have been made in the age verification process and children have been subjected to unsafe adult environments as a result, can I ask the Lord Minister to agree today to review the Home Office’s age assessment guidance in consultation with stakeholders in light of the new risks posed by Rwandan removals? Would he also be willing to meet with the signatories of the amendments in this group to discuss this matter?
The golden rule, “do to others as you would have them do to you”, could easily be rephrased for this context into the question: Would you consent to this course of action for your child or grandchild? I do not believe my Lords, there is any among us who would, and for this reason I pray the Government consider the issues raised today with the consideration a child deserves.