On 30 July the UK's Court of Appeal quashed the convictions of a number of refugees who had pleaded guilty to illegal migration-related offences. In the case of R v Mateta & Ors [2013] EWCA Crim 1372, five refugees had been convicted of possessing with intent an identity document which is false or relates to someone else. All five had been granted refugee status shortly after pleading guilty.
International humanitarian law recognizes the difficulties that refugees face when fleeing danger in their home countries. Article 31 of the Refugee Convention 1951 protects refugees from prosecution for unlawful entry into a sanctuary state. Section 31 of the UK Immigration Act 1999 correspondingly provides a defence to criminal prosecutions for unlawful entry. None of the defendants received legal advice about the existence of the section 31 defence.
Lord Justice Leveson was highly critical of the refugees' defence counsel saying “it is both surprising and disturbing that neither solicitors nor counsel appear to have been aware of the position in law and we repeat that this situation should not recur in the future.”
Prosecution of refugees and asylum seekers for illegally entering the state has been a recurring issue in the UK. In 2010 in the case of R v. Mohamed Abdalla and Others [2010] EWCA Crim 2400, three out of four refugees’ convictions were quashed as they had received inadequate legal advice when facing prosecution for offences related to illegal migration. Commenting on the Mateta case in the Free Movement blog, Colin Yeo writes, “Sadly, this issue recurs every few years. Despite Lord Justice Leveson’s best endeavours it is likely to do so again, particularly if the planned cuts to criminal legal aid go through. The only real solution is to legislate to offer proper, clear cut and unambiguous protection to refugees. Sadly, this is extremely unlikely ever to occur.”
Colin Yeo also notes that both the Criminal Cases Review Commission and the Immigration Law Practitioners' Association have tried to draw attention to the availability of the section 31 defence. Click here to read an article by a CCRC case review manager in The Law Society Gazette.
Click here to read an article on the Free Movement blog.
Click here to read an article form Border Criminologies blog.