Keeping asylum-seeking minors in government-run hotels legally unacceptable in UK: Analyst

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) – Unaccompanied minors should have never been placed in hotels by the British government as it is not a safe option for children and violates UK law, according to a legal analyst.

While whereabouts of missing asylum-seeking children still remains shrouded in mystery, and both the government and local authorities have blamed each other over the case, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has decided to end using hotels and hostels for housing abandoned minors.

Simon Murray, a Home Office minister, admitted on Jan. 23 that 200 children seeking asylum went missing across the country after they were placed in hostels run by the government.

The disclosure came after The Observer newspaper reported that a whistleblower from a hostel in Brighton claimed that some children had been abducted outside the facility and forced into cars.

However, dispute continues about who should be held liable for the issue and blamed for the missing of minors from hotels that are run by the Home Office.

To shed light on the legal aspects of the issue, Anadolu spoke with Naim Hasani, a British lawyer and an expert on migration, asylum and human rights applications and appeals.

- 'It's absolutely unacceptable'

Hasani pointed out the Section 20 of Children Act 1989, which is a legal provision that is directly related to accommodation of unaccompanied children in the UK.

"If a child is found abandoned in the local authority area in any part of United Kingdom, it is the responsibility of the local authority to look after this child and assume parental responsibility," he explained the law in an exclusive interview with Anadolu.

The government, he said, is normally responsible for providing the right budget, finances to the local authorities and in this case it should ensure that the missing children are found.

"It's absolutely unacceptable because there is a legal provision in United Kingdom for that to be covered by the local authority," Hasani said, adding that placing them in hotels is not suitable for their well-being and welfare.

He warned that unaccompanied children in hotels could be "prey" for all sorts of elements, including criminals who would use them at the vulnerability as exploitation for criminal purposes.

"Therefore, no children should be placed in hotels," he said.

- 'Where are these children?'

Citing Labour Party lawmaker Peter Kyle's statement, Hasani said if it was a British child missing, everything would come to a halt until that child was found and brought back safely.

"The uncomfortable truth for us is if one child who was related to one of us in this room went missing, the world would stop," Kyle said in the House of Commons on Jan. 24.

"But in the community I represent a child has gone missing, then five went missing, then a dozen went missing, then 50 went missing and currently today 76 are missing and nothing is happening," he added.

Hasani said that although the boat crossings is a huge problem, "a huge headache" for the government, it does not mean that the UK should fall short of its national and international standards in treating these children "as they are children."

"I think there is responsibility of this government in this country to make sure that regardless of their status, there are children and as children they are kept safe," he opined.

- Missing Albanian minors

Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said in January that out of 200 asylum-seeking children that have gone missing from hotels provided by the British government, 88% were Albanian.

Hasani said it is a huge question that needs to be answered.

"Where are these children? Who is responsible finding that? Why are they not being located, why they've not been found, how are they, how in Earth and United Kingdom in a broad daylight all these children are disappearing?" he asked.

Hasani said the rhetoric by some government members against Albanians stirred tension and abuse, including against children in schools.

This should not be happening in a country which is "a country of rules, and law, order, and democracy," he argued.

In December, Albania’s Ambassador to the UK Qirjako Qirko said Albanian children in Britain are subject to "racist bullying" in local schools due to the debate over migrant arrivals by small boats.

"What I think is that there's been a lot of publicity about Albanians and being the criminals categorized as criminals or invaders. And I very much hope that this language will be more moderated," the expert said.

- 'Everyone should be treated fairly'

Hasani, who is also an Albanian national, underlined that this does not do anything to improve the race relations in the UK.

"They could be involved in the gang crime in drugs, in cannabis farms, and by dangerous and ruthless criminals, all that can be used to slave, forced labor," he said, adding that that is why there is need for urgent investigation to find the missing minors as soon as possible.

Examining asylum claims is something that the government is responsible for, the expert said, however he underlined that all children should be treated fairly, regardless of where they are coming from.

"To prejudice those applications and to say the baseless and unmeritorious in case of Albanians, and saying that they have no basis for any of them to be here, that is stretching too much and actually stretching too much to legal obligations."

Treating everyone fairly is "the most and best principle" that the UK must follow, Hasani said.

He suggested that working with the Albanian community in this case will help efforts to find the missing Albanian asylum-seeking children.