Tuesday 09 November 2021 @ 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
This webinar is part of the ILPA Representing Victims of Trafficking Series. We are also running webinars focusing on Albanian (7th Sep) and Vietnamese (5th Oct) victims of trafficking.
In 2020 Nigeria was downgraded by the US State Department from a Tier 2 country to the Tier 2 watchlist, signifying a worrying deterioration in conditions for victims of trafficking.
This webinar we will explore the best ways to represent Nigerian victims of trafficking in their trafficking claims before the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) and their asylum claims before the Home Office/ First-tier Tribunal. The current Country Guidance case of HD (Trafficked women) Nigeria CG [2016] UKUT 00454 (IAC) from the Upper Tribunal places significant weight on an individual's personal characteristics of vulnerability as being determinative of risk on return and we will explore how to best build a case regarding personal characteristics. Furthermore, the country situation has deteriorated since HD.
While some of the tactics, evidence and legal arguments discussed in this session will be applicable to victims of trafficking from other countries, this webinar will focus explicitly on building the strongest case for Nigerian victims.
This webinar will examine the following:
• Common bases for Nigerian trafficking claims and how to best present these (i.e. trafficking for sexual exploitation and domestic servitude);
• Common reasons for negative NRM decisions in and how to prevent/ challenge these;
• Common reasons for negative asylum decisions and how to prevent/ challenge these;
• Examining the objective country material and how to use it to maximum advantage (i.e. understanding the downgrading by the US State Department TIP rankings looking at other types of country evidence from EASO and beyond);
• Examining Home Office documents, including the CPINs on Nigerian Trafficking of Women; Nigeria Medical and Healthcare issues; and Nigeria Internal Relocation and how to use these to maximum advantage and/ or challenging or distinguishing their findings where necessary;
• The importance of expert evidence including medical evidence (also addressing issues of vulnerability) and country evidence;
• Problems of internal relocation including the civil registration system and the difficulties facing single/lone women with or without children in Nigeria;
• Sufficiency of protection and the authorities approach to trafficking;
• Alternative bases for claiming asylum for Nigerian VOTs such as on the basis of poor mental health and the serious harm that may befall those with mental health problems in Nigeria and risks to any children from trafficking; and
• How to build a case for Article 8 ECHR/ very significant obstacles due to stigma/ discrimination faced by Nigerian trafficking victims, especially assumptions made about young women returning from Europe.
Please book at https://ilpa.org.uk/event/web-1119-nigeria-representing-victims-of-trafficking-in-their-trafficking-and-asylum-claims-part-3/