A/HRC/41/54/Add.4 84. Operation Gull aims to detect and remove (where appropriate and lawful) immigration offenders, including FNOs. Those removed will be persons who have no legal right to remain in the UK (including cases where it is the intention to remove any existing legal basis to remain, as part of the removal process). 85. Any enforcement action is based upon objective information taken from Home Office databases to confirm the nationality or evidence provided by the individual. All foreign nationals are treated in the same way, regardless of whether they are an EEA national or a non-EEA national. Once it is decided that a person is an immigration offender under the Immigration Act 1971 or an EEA national not exercising treaty rights, then Schedule 2 of the Immigration Act 1971 and the relevant Home Office immigration policies in force at the time are applied. The criteria for High Harm are based on objective factors such as the type or severity of the offence and not nationality or race. 86. If an immigration offender cannot be removed from the UK for any reason, additional sanctions may be considered and implemented, but these will not differ from the approach adopted across the wider IE area. 87. An interpreter is made available for those individuals that do not speak or understand English. This ensures that foreign nationals that do not speak or understand English are not placed at a disadvantage to those that do. Northern Ireland 88. Since the elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly held in March 2017 , the political parties in Northern Ireland have been unable to form an Executive Committee in accordance with the Northern Ireland Act 1998. As Government departments in Northern Ireland operate in law under the direction and control of Ministers, the failure to appoint Ministers has meant that departments have been constrained in the range of decisions they can take. While the Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions Act 2018 has permitted decision taking by Government officials in accordance with guidelines issued by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, it is considered that responses from this administration to the recommendations in the Report would require consultation with, and decisions by, future Northern Ireland Ministers . The Report will be reviewed following the return of a functioning Northern Ireland Executive and a response may be made at that time. III. Conclusion 89. In conclusion, we would like to thank Ms Achiume for her visit and her report and we would like to assure her of the United Kingdom’s continued support for her mandate. 16

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