A/HRC/41/54/Add.4
the specific circumstances, risks and threats faced by Scottish communities. Delivery of
Prevent in Scotland is grounded in safeguarding vulnerable individuals and early
intervention, and forms part of wider efforts to build more cohesive, resilient communities
where extremist and terrorist narratives do not resonate. The Scottish Government takes
particular care to emphasise that its approach looks across the spectrum of threat, reflecting
that the risk to vulnerable individuals in Scotland comes from all forms of divisive ideology.
59.
Para 52-57 - This section of the SR’s report addresses the development of policies
designed to deter illegal immigration and secure compliance through operating effective
eligibility checks for accessing work and services, and comments on the impact of these
policies. These assertions do not adequately reference the challenge the UK faces, in
common with other comparable countries, in tackling the risks posed by illegal immigration,
including the harms suffered by individuals who place their safety at risk in the hands of
unscrupulous people smugglers or experience exploitation and modern slavery at the hands
of rogue employers and landlords. Neither does the report, in criticising the system of right
to work checks provided in the Immigration Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, acknowledge
that all EU member states are required under EU law (the EU Directive on sanctions against
employers of illegally staying third country nationals) to have such arrangements in place
and similar systems of control operate in other comparable countries. The UK is far from
being the only country which seeks to regulate access to housing by placing responsibilities
on landlords, and far from being the only country which provides that those without lawful
status should lose access to banking facilities.
60.
The Immigration Acts 2014 and 2016 did not in fact criminalise “those who find
themselves without status” as the report suggests. It has been a criminal offence to enter or
remain in the UK unlawfully since the Immigration Act 1971 was introduced, but the UK
deals with immigration offences through administrative removal rather than criminal
prosecution to avoid placing people in the penal system unnecessarily; other comparable
countries make greater use of criminal sanctions for immigration offences which the UK
deals with administratively using civil law powers.
61.
The introduction of measures in the Immigration Acts 2006, 2014 and 2016 were the
subject of detailed and careful debate in Parliament during the passage of the relevant
legislation, and some measures were the subject to General Election manifesto commitments
to the electorate made by UK Governments (such as the system of civil penalties for
employers of illegal workers). The report is incorrect in attributing this direction in policy
development to the current Prime Minister. The term “hostile environment” to describe the
UK Government’s efforts to tackle illegal immigration was first used in the strategy
document “Protecting our Border, Protecting the Public: The UK Border Agency’s five-year
strategy for enforcing our immigration rules and addressing immigration and cross border
crime” which was published by a previous administration in February 2010. The document
states “This strategy sets out how we will continue our efforts to cut crime and make the UK
a hostile environment for those that seek to break our laws or abuse our hospitality.”
62.
The report also conflates the UK’s general policy of deterring illegal immigration
through operating fair rules on access to work, benefits and services on the one hand with the
specific operation in 2013 to promote voluntary returns by illegally resident non-EEA
nationals through use of advertisements on vans carrying information on how to contact the
Home Office for assistance on the other. The two issues are separate; the use of the
advertisement vans has already been the subject of extensive debate in the UK.
63.
The report expresses concern that asylum seekers and victims of modern slavery have
been impacted by the system of right to rent checks introduced by the Immigration Act 2014.
However, the report does not reflect that many asylum seekers and victims of
slavery/trafficking are directly accommodated and supported by the state, rather than having
to seek accommodation in the private rented sector. Those who do require accommodation
are granted permission to rent which can be confirmed through the Home Office landlord
checking service.
64.
The report also does not acknowledge that UK law is clear that discrimination on
grounds of race is unlawful, including by those such as employers, landlords and public
service providers responsible for conducting eligibility checks. A careful Home Office
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