Recommendation 38

It is inevitable that cases concerning deprivation of citizenship orders may present practical difficulties with regard to serving notice. Individuals who leave the jurisdiction, travel to conflict zones, reside in refugee camps, and have no known means of communication, will be virtually impossible to locate and serve with notice. It is reasonable that the requirements for the Secretary of State to give notice to such individuals should take these challenges into account. However, there are three key problems with clause 9: it allows for far too much discretion by the Secretary of State to avoid giving notice of deprivation of citizenship orders; it renders the right of appeal meaningless, and it retrospectively validates unlawful deprivation of citizenship orders which may interfere with pending legal proceedings. Given the severe infringement of rights resulting from deprivation of citizenship orders, it is imperative that robust safeguards are in place when this extreme executive power is used. As set out above, we suggest that Clause 9 is removed from the Bill.