2 Remote Justice and Vulnerable Litigants: The Case of Asylum
-
Nick Gill
Abstract
The recent acceleration in the use of remote justice in the UK, prompted by COVID-19, raises the question of how such changes affect litigants in person and vulnerable litigants. The latter include children and young adults, immigration detainees, those using English as an additional language, those facing mental health difficulties or who are neuro-diverse, those with alcohol or drug dependencies, and those who are excessively fearful and anxious.
Some of these characteristics can be especially acute among people claiming asylum. Like other jurisdictions, the UK’s First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) has expedited its roll-out of online procedures which were already underway before the pandemic. Substantive hearing lists were vacated from March to June 2020 and only Case Management Review hearings and immigration bail hearings were heard. These were conducted almost exclusively via telephone, with some hearings heard via video conference (see also Mulcahy, Chapter 3). At the time of writing (October 2020), the prospect of the pandemic continuing to prompt the use of these and similar measures, including for substantive asylum appeals, seems likely as COVID-19 cases are climbing.
I have led a team of researchers over the last several years in an attempt to understand appellants’ experiences of asylum appeal hearings, conducting interviews with asylum appellants as well as legal professionals, and observing appeal processes from the public galleries of hearing rooms in the UK and various other European countries. Figures 2.1 and 2.2 depict a typical hearing room in the UK, with the public seating at the back.
Abstract
The recent acceleration in the use of remote justice in the UK, prompted by COVID-19, raises the question of how such changes affect litigants in person and vulnerable litigants. The latter include children and young adults, immigration detainees, those using English as an additional language, those facing mental health difficulties or who are neuro-diverse, those with alcohol or drug dependencies, and those who are excessively fearful and anxious.
Some of these characteristics can be especially acute among people claiming asylum. Like other jurisdictions, the UK’s First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) has expedited its roll-out of online procedures which were already underway before the pandemic. Substantive hearing lists were vacated from March to June 2020 and only Case Management Review hearings and immigration bail hearings were heard. These were conducted almost exclusively via telephone, with some hearings heard via video conference (see also Mulcahy, Chapter 3). At the time of writing (October 2020), the prospect of the pandemic continuing to prompt the use of these and similar measures, including for substantive asylum appeals, seems likely as COVID-19 cases are climbing.
I have led a team of researchers over the last several years in an attempt to understand appellants’ experiences of asylum appeal hearings, conducting interviews with asylum appellants as well as legal professionals, and observing appeal processes from the public galleries of hearing rooms in the UK and various other European countries. Figures 2.1 and 2.2 depict a typical hearing room in the UK, with the public seating at the back.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents vii
- List of Figures and Tables ix
- Notes on Contributors xi
- Preface xiii
- Series Editor’s Preface xv
- Introduction 1
-
Justice
- Ruling the Pandemic 15
- Remote Justice and Vulnerable Litigants: The Case of Asylum 27
- Virtual Poverty? What Happens When Criminal Trials Go Online? 41
- Genera-Relational Justice in the COVID-19 Recovery Period: Children in the Criminal Justice System 53
- Racism as Legal Pandemic: Thoughts on Critical Legal Pedagogies 65
- Rights and Solidarity during COVID-19 79
- COVID-19 PPE Extremely Urgent Procurement in England: A Cautionary Tale for an Overheating Public Governance 93
-
The Social
- Accountability for Health and the NHS under COVID-19: The ‘Left behind’ and the Rule of Law in Post-Brexit UK 107
- COVID-19 in Adult Social Care: Futures, Funding and Fairness 119
- Housing, Homelessness and COVID-19 131
- Education, Austerity and the COVID-19 Generation 143
- What Have We Learned about the Corporate Sector in COVID-19? 155
- Social Security under and after COVID-19 171
- Maintaining the Divide: Labour Law and COVID-19 187
- From Loss to (Capital) Gains: Reflections on Tax and Spending in the Pandemic Aftermath 199
- Index 209
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents vii
- List of Figures and Tables ix
- Notes on Contributors xi
- Preface xiii
- Series Editor’s Preface xv
- Introduction 1
-
Justice
- Ruling the Pandemic 15
- Remote Justice and Vulnerable Litigants: The Case of Asylum 27
- Virtual Poverty? What Happens When Criminal Trials Go Online? 41
- Genera-Relational Justice in the COVID-19 Recovery Period: Children in the Criminal Justice System 53
- Racism as Legal Pandemic: Thoughts on Critical Legal Pedagogies 65
- Rights and Solidarity during COVID-19 79
- COVID-19 PPE Extremely Urgent Procurement in England: A Cautionary Tale for an Overheating Public Governance 93
-
The Social
- Accountability for Health and the NHS under COVID-19: The ‘Left behind’ and the Rule of Law in Post-Brexit UK 107
- COVID-19 in Adult Social Care: Futures, Funding and Fairness 119
- Housing, Homelessness and COVID-19 131
- Education, Austerity and the COVID-19 Generation 143
- What Have We Learned about the Corporate Sector in COVID-19? 155
- Social Security under and after COVID-19 171
- Maintaining the Divide: Labour Law and COVID-19 187
- From Loss to (Capital) Gains: Reflections on Tax and Spending in the Pandemic Aftermath 199
- Index 209
