Joint UK-Albania communique in relation to trafficking
Published 13 December 2022
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/joint-uk-albania-communique-on-trafficking/joint-uk-albania-communique-in-relation-to-trafficking
UK legislation provides for claims from Albanian nationals and other safe countries to be certified under Section 94 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. A country can be designated as safe if there is in general no serious risk of persecution of people entitled to reside there, and their removal to that State will not in general contravene the UK’s human rights obligations.
This can be on a case-by-case basis, or where a country is listed in the 2002 Act as being generally safe, from which claims must be certified as clearly unfounded unless they are not.
The UK Parliament passed legislation to add Albania to our safe country list, under section 94 of the 2002 Act. Albania is designated as a safe country because, in general, there is no serious risk of persecution of persons entitled to reside in Albania.
This means that the Secretary of State must issue a certified refusal of asylum claims by Albanian nationals unless satisfied that the claim is not clearly unfounded. Claims will be considered ‘clearly unfounded’ where they are ‘so clearly without substance that they are “bound to fail”’.
In 2021, the initial grant rate for Albanian asylum claims across the EU27 was 2%.
One of the reforms of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 for asylum claims decided on or after 28 June 2022 removes entirely the right to appeal a decision that has been certified.
All asylum claims are considered on a case-by-case basis and there are occasions where it is not appropriate to certify claims from nationals of safe countries as “clearly unfounded”. Updated guidance was provided to caseworkers following the commencement of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 changes and is available on GOV.UK
We are constantly improving the clarity and accessibility of the guidance we provide to our caseworkers to support them in their decision-making. Since September we have updated 4 separate pieces of guidance relating to Albania and we will publish improved versions of 4 more before Christmas, in addition to what we are publishing today.
Today, we are publishing an updated Country Policy and Information Note on Human Trafficking. This reflects both open-source material published in the last few months and evidence gathered from our recent fact-finding mission to Albania, a report of which we are also publishing.
This updated note also reflects the Upper Tribunal’s conclusions regarding the continued progress Albania has made on tackling trafficking, and that, whilst it may not be suitable in every case, a general sufficiency of protection is available to victims of trafficking.
The assurances set out in the joint communique published today will make further material differences to the confidence with which we can refuse asylum claims based on the risk of re-trafficking and return victims of modern slavery to be supported in their home country.
The changes underpinning these assurances are due to be implemented in January, with updates to our country guidance being made soon after.