The Weekly Round-up: Family reunification scheme for Afghan refugees, world’s first AI regulation and puberty blocker ban lawful
5 August 2024
In UK news
The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Seema Malhotra has announced the opening of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme Pathway 1 Stage 2: Separated Families. This is a reunification scheme for families separated during Operation Pitting. This was the operation in which vulnerable people such as the LGBT community, women’s rights activists and judges were evacuated from Kabul by the British government after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021. Persons resettled in the UK can submit an “expression of interest” to be reunited with a spouse or unmarried partner or their dependent children aged under 18 at the time of the evacuation. Children separated from their parents during the evacuation can apply to be reunited with their parents and siblings aged under 18 at the time of the evacuation. The Scheme is open now and the deadline to submit an “expression of interest” is 30 October 2024.
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, Yvette Cooper has announced that the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has been asked to review, among other things, the minimum income requirement for family and partner visas. The minimum income requirement rose from £18,600 per year to £29,000 per year in April 2024, and it is planned to rise to £34,500 later this year and £38,700 in 2025. The Home Secretary stated that the MAC review will make sure that the Immigration Rules “balance a respect for family life whilst also ensuring the economic wellbeing of the UK is maintained”. The campaign group Reunite Families UK has launched a legal challenge against the planned rise to £38,700 per year, arguing, among other things, that it will disproportionately impact women, members of ethnic minorities and young people.
In international news
As the civil war in Sudan continues, reports are coming out regarding famine and mass sexual violence. The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has identified 14 areas at risk of famine, including conflict hotspots Darfur and Khartoum. The WFP estimates that 26 million people, more than half the population, are now facing acute hunger and 755,000 people are facing catastrophic conditions with deaths caused by starvation already being recorded. Human Rights Watch has published a report documenting widespread rape and sexual abuse committed by the warring parties, in particular the Rapid Support Forces, with local healthcare providers reporting survivors of sexual violence between the ages of 9 and 60. An explainer on the origins of the conflict is available here.
On 01 August 2024, the EU AI Act (also known as Regulation 2024/1689), the world’s first piece of legislation on artificial intelligence, entered into force. The act splits the different uses of AI into four categories each with a different level of regulation. Category one are video games and spam filters which pose minimum risk and so are not regulated. Category two are chatbots, deepfakes and other uses which present issues regarding transparency. The regulation will require developers to make sure users are aware that they are interacting with AI. Category three are high risk uses such as transport, marking exams, recruitment and granting of loans, which will be strictly regulated. Category four are unacceptable risk uses such as social scoring, predictive policing, emotional recognition and cognitive behavioural manipulation, which are banned in their entirety under the act. The bans on prohibited practices will be applied in the first six months of the Act being passed, and the other regulations will be brought in over the next two years.
The International Criminal Court has allowed individuals and states to submit amicus curiae briefs regarding its upcoming decision whether or not to issue arrest warrants for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant. The UK was the first state which declared that it would provide a brief arguing against the issuing of an arrest warrant, however, the government has since announced that it will be dropping their challenge. All amicus curiae briefs regarding this matter are available here. The UN Human Rights Office has published a report regarding arbitrary and prolonged detention of Palestinians by the State of Israel. Detainees report abuse including blindfolding, deprivation of food, electric shocks, being burnt with cigarettes and sexual violence against both men and women.
American journalist Evan Gershkovich has been released by Russia in the biggest prisoner swap between the USA and Russia since the Cold War. In March 2023, Gershkovich was arrested by Russia’s Federal Security Service on espionage charges and sentenced to 16 years in prison. His arrest and subsequent sentence was condemned by leading human rights organisations and UN Special Rapporteurs on human rights in the Russian Federation and the right to freedom of opinion and expression. The prisoner swap saw the release of 16 people from Russia, including influential opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza, journalist Alsu Kurmasheva and activist Sasha Skochilenko who was sentenced to seven years in a penal colony for affixing anti-war stickers on supermarket shelves as a form of protest. The USA released Russian detainees including Vadim Krasikov, a hitman who worked for Russia’s Federal Security Service.
In the courts
The High Court has ruled that the emergency ban on the use of puberty blockers as medication for trans children through private and EU prescriptions is lawful. The campaign group TransActual and an anonymous 14-year-old trans girl now unable to access puberty blockers, sought to challenge the ban arguing, amongst other things, that the Secretary of State did not have sufficient medical evidence to institute the ban. The court held that the Secretary of State was entitled to rely on the Cass Review, which recommended a clinical trial to determine the effects of puberty blockers, and held that “this decision required a complex and multi-factored predictive assessment, involving the application of clinical judgment and the weighing of competing risks and dangers, with which the Court should be slow to interfere”. The court also dismissed arguments that the ban was introduced with an unfair failure to consult and arguments based on Article 8 ECHR. In response to the ruling the British Medical Association (BMA), the trade union and professional body for doctors and medical students in the UK, has called for a pause in the implementation of the Cass Review and questioned the “weaknesses in the methodologies used in the [Cass] Review”.
