The Afghanistan Crisis, Routes to Safety in the UK and the Outlook for 2022

Kingsley Napley’s International Protection Team is hosting a panel discussion about the crisis in Afghanistan via Zoom at 6pm on 12 January 2022. 

As the crisis has unfolded, immigration lawyers and agencies in the UK have been assisting Afghan clients and their families, despite unclear and often disparate information about the region and available routes to safety.

Our speakers will provide their insights into the state of the region 5 months after the Taliban seized Kabul, the UK’s response and the challenges that lie ahead. In particular, discussion will include:

• The situation facing those who are at risk in Afghanistan, and who have escaped to bordering countries;
• Routes to safety in the UK, including the UK’s resettlement programmes;
• UNHCR’s work in the region and in support of the Home Office in the UK;
• Afghan women judges and the future for those who have been resettled in the UK.

Our speakers are: 

• Emma Haddad, Director General for Asylum and Protection at the Home Office

Emma Haddad spent much of her early career in European and international migration policy, working with EU partners on the migration and asylum agenda.  She then moved to operational delivery, first running the UK’s asylum system and then leading the operation to deliver the Prime Minister’s commitment to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees. Emma then moved to the Department for Work and Pensions in 2016, where she was Director for Working Age and then Director General for Service Excellence. Emma returned to the Home Office in February 2021 as Director General for Asylum and Protection where she is leading on key areas including transforming the asylum system and delivery of the refugee resettlement programmes. She is also the Social Mobility Champion for the Home Office.

• Larry Bottinick, Senior Legal Officer at UNHCR

Larry Bottinick is the Senior Legal Officer heading the protection team for UNHCR in the UK. With UNHCR almost 30 years, he has served in Asia, Guantanamo Bay, Central Europe, Turkey, and, most recently, Israel.  He has spent several years in UNHCR’s Headquarters with the Division of International Protection, the Asia Bureau, and the Office of the Assistant High Commissioner.  Larry’s expertise is in Refugee Status Determination, policy development and advocacy.  His personal interest is supporting refugee athletes and women’s empowerment through self-defence.          

• Sasha Ali, Resettlement and Complementary Pathway Officer at UNHCR

Sasha Ali is currently based in UNHCR’s London office as a Resettlement and Complementary Pathway Officer and has previously worked in several operations across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Sasha has a medical as well as legal background and has extensive experience in refugee protection issues including Refugee Status Determination, Resettlement and Child protection. She also has a particular interest in mitigating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, and developing the self-reliance of refugees and their meaningful participation in civic life; particularly women and minority groups.

• Justice Susan Glazebrook, President of the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) and Judge of the Supreme Court of New Zealand / Te Koti Mana Nuif

Justice Glazebrook has been a vocal advocate for displaced women Afghan judges. Before being appointed to the Bench, Justice Glazebrook was a partner in a large commercial law firm and a member of various commercial boards and government advisory committees. She served as the President of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association in 1998. She has served as a member of the Advisory Council of Jurists for the Asia-Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (from 2002 to 2010) and from 2007 to 2012 chaired the Institute of Judicial Studies, the body responsible for judicial education in New Zealand. In 2014 Justice Glazebrook was made a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the judiciary.

• Fahima Sirat, former Judge of the Special Serious Corruption Court in Afghanistan

Fahima Sirat has held judicial positions in the Criminal Division of the Supreme Court of Afghanistan, the Criminal Division of the Primary Court, and the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeals. In 2013, she was associate professor of General Criminal Law in the Judicial Practicum course, training judges. She was a judge in the Special Serious Corruption Crime Court at the Anti-Corruption Justice Centre from 2016 until she was evacuated from Afghanistan to the UK in August 2021. Fahima is currently a visiting scholar in the Faculty of Law, Oxford University.

• Professor Elspeth Guild, Professor of Law at Queen Mary University of London and Legal Counsel at Kingsley Napley

Elspeth Guild is Jean Monnet professor ad personam at Queen Mary University of London and Legal Counsel at Kingsley Napley. She is leading a UK research team on the EU funded project PROTECT examining refugee protection in Europe from the perspective of the UN Global Compact for Refugees adopted in 2018. The project includes 12 partners across the world. Elspeth has also provided consultancy services to UNHCR as well as to the Council of Europe and EU institutions in the areas of refugee protection. She is editor of the Refugee Law Initiative blog series on the Global Compacts and is currently working on a report regarding the EU border agency, Frontex, and violence at EU external borders for a European Parliamentary Party.

Registration for this event has now closed.