News

Public law director Ahmed Aydeed has been invited to give oral evidence at the Home Affairs Committee’s Modern Slavery Inquiry in the House of Commons in Westminster.

The inquiry launched last July in order to look in to what progress has been made in the three years since the Modern Slavery Act came into force and what remains to be done. Since the Government introduced the Modern Slavery Strategy in 2014, and the Modern Slavery Act in 2015, concerns have been raised relating to the lack of progress in reducing the prevalence of modern slavery in the UK since the legislation came into force.

As part of the inquiry, the Committee is taking evidence on the detention of victims of slavery and trafficking who are in immigration detention facilities. The session is expected to cover the extent and appropriateness of detention of potential victims, the reasons for the detention of victims of trafficking and modern slavery, and the consequences of detention for the individuals. The session is also expected to look into the adequacy of Government policies on the detention of vulnerable individuals.

Ahmed will be joined by Sarah Teather from JRS Jesuit Refugee Service UK and James Wilson from Detention Action, two organisations that support victims in detention. The session will take place today (2nd July 2019) at the Palace of Westminster at 2pm and will be transmitted live via the internet. Members of the public will be able to sit in on the meeting and it is expected to be a popular evidence session.

Ahmed has been at the forefront in the battle against the criminalisation and detention of victims of trafficking. His work has benefitted thousands of vulnerable asylum seekers and he continues to lead key public law challenges in order to protect those most in need. He regularly acts of trafficking and modern slavery victims, and has a valuable insight into the atrocities they have endured. His recent challenge of the Home Office’s 45-day support policy for identified victims of trafficking has resulted in the Home Office conceding that their policy was unlawful and incompatible with the Trafficking Convention. This challenge resulted further in the Home Office acknowledging that support should be provided in reference to an individual’s needs rather than by any reference to how long they have received support.

With his experience and expertise in this area of public law, Ahmed’s evidence will be invaluable to the Committee and to the inquiry overall and will help shed light on the government’s policies in relation to detention for victims of trafficking.


About Ahmed Aydeed

Ahmed is the director of public law at the Birmingham & Milton Keynes branches of Duncan Lewis Solicitors. He specialises in public and human rights law, predominantly acting for refugees, and trafficking and modern slavery victims in legally aided public law challenges. His core area of practice concerns administrative detention, international protection, and equality & discrimination. Ahmed has led key public law challenges against the administrative detention of refugees, torture and trafficking victims. He has also acted in leading cases on the Detained Fast Track rules, healthcare provisions in immigration detention, criminal injuries compensation and support and assistance for victims of human trafficking.

In 2018 Ahmed was shortlisted for Partner of the Year at the Birmingham Law Society Legal Awards and was ‘Highly Commended’ for Human Rights Lawyer of the Year at the 2018 Law Society Excellence Awards. In 2017 he won Junior Lawyer of the Year at the Law Society Excellence Awards.

To contact Ahmed, call 020 7275 2668 or email ahmeda@duncanlewis.com



Duncan Lewis Public Law Solicitors

The Duncan Lewis Public Law department continues to be recommended by Legal 500 with the 2019 edition reporting its 'strong presence in this area of the law, making a particularly dominant contribution in immigration, asylum and prison law.'

The Public law team has experience in all aspects of judicial review claimant work, including obtaining emergency orders and other interim relief to prevent breaches of human rights, following up judicial reviews with actions for damages in both the County and High Court and successfully pursuing judicial review matters to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. A particular focus is the team’s work handling cases of the deprivation of British citizenship and deportation threats, with a niche specialism in challenging the treatment of immigration detainees and other marginalised communities.

To contact a member of the public law team, call 033 3772 0409.