Statelessness

In 2013 the Liverpool Law Clinic began its work on assisting people who are stateless and at risk of statelessness. There were several reasons for doing so. Firstly, the Home Office introduced a procedure in April 2013 for people to request leave to remain in the UK on the basis that they are stateless and not admissible to any other country. It was clear that there was a gap in provision of legal advice and assistance to people in this area.

Advice and representation on statelessness was outside scope of legal aid and in the first few years after the enactment of the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 it was almost impossible to get discretionary legal aid by way of a grant of exceptional case funding.

Secondly, the Law Clinic is part of the University of Liverpool School of Law and Social Justice. We teach law students though ‘enquiry-based learning’. Students work on real cases under the supervision of one of the Clinic lawyers. Four of the Clinic lawyers are immigration and asylum lawyers and the Clinic has a speciality in this area which is consistent with the social justice ethos of the Department. There is a synergy between our expertise, an identified need, and the opportunity to provide an interesting and informative clinical educational experience for our students.

Thirdly, the statelessness team at the Home Office is based in Liverpool and in this means that the Law Clinic is well placed to assist people at statelessness interviews. We have also been able to develop a constructive policy dialogue with the statelessness operations and policy teams and have met with them on a regular basis to discuss issues arising from the procedure.

Read the full report on Statelessness in Practice: Implementation of the UK Statelessness Application Procedure by Johanna Bezzano and Judith Carter, 2 July 2018 (PDF)

 

Statelessness: Theory and Practice

London, 9 - 10 July 2018.

 

PowerPoint Presentations from the Statelessness Conference


Statelessness and Removability - Advising people on ETD issues and cooperation:

 

 

Deportation orders and detention for people who are stateless and/or not removable:

 

 

Nationality and Statelessness in the International Law of Refugee Status:

 

 

Statelessness: challenges and opportunities, theory and practice:

 

 

Outsourcing Passports - Permanent "Temporary" Status in the UAE:

 

 

Ending Detention of Stateless People:

 

 

Stateless in the Gulf: Migration, Nationality and Society in Kuwait:

 

 

UNHCR and Statelessness Determination in the UK:

 

 

 

 

 

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