Protect Article 8
Our Submission to the United Nations' OHCHR
On the 15th of June 2026, the No Recourse North East Partnership responded to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’ call for input regarding children’s right to family life in migration and asylum policies.
We view the right to family life, enshrined in Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), as a cornerstone for happy, healthy families and an inclusive society at large. These rights, and others protected by the UK’s membership in the ECHR, are under threat from various parts of the UK’s political class, with numerous parties viewing a withdrawal from the convention and abandoning the commitments associated with membership as a step in the right direction for the people living in the UK.
In our input, we discuss how the UK’s “hostile environment” is designed to undermine the right to family unity. We identify how xenophobia and racial discrimination can manifest in immigration controls, particularly through the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition, which disproportionately affects minoritised families and violates core conventions on the rights of the child principles.
Below is a summary of our key points, along with a copy of our complete submission.
UK immigration controls have never been racially neutral. The No Recourse to Public Funds condition disproportionately affects Black, Asian, and other minoritised families, who are denied access to basic support despite many paying taxes. Single mothers and survivors of gender-based abuse face additional barriers, as support mechanisms often prevent them from including their children in applications when fleeing abusive relationships. These intersecting problems make it much harder for vulnerable families to exercise their right to family life.
Appendix Private Life provides a legal basis for family unity claims under Article 8, but the route to settlement attached to it takes 10 years, twice as long as the standard route to settlement. This effectively punishes families who have established a life in the UK but did not meet the requirements for the shorter pathway. Refugee Family Reunion, which previously allowed children to join recognised refugee parents, has been suspended. Nearly two-thirds of applicants through this route were children, and the suspension directly blocks them from reuniting with their families, leaving members behind in dangerous situations.
Extortionate visa fees, punitive settlement pathways, and the suspension of family reunification visas all impede safe migration. But the biggest barrier is the near-complete lack of safe, regular routes for most nationalities, which particularly effects those pushed out of their homeland seeking asylum. Without these routes, families seeking asylum often do not give up on migrating and instead turn to dangerous, irregular journeys instead. Children who are often left behind are now denied the ability to reunite with their parents, and those who make the journey face a system designed to push them back. Expanding safe pathways would remove these barriers and give families a real chance at a legal, dignified migration.