A ‘PLACE’ FOR STATELESS PEOPLE? CONNECTING PLACE-BASED RESEARCH WITH STATELESSNESS ALISON GARDNER AND PHIL NORTHALL * TABLE OF CONTENTS I II Research and Action towards a ‘Slavery-Free’ Community ................................ 149 Advantages of Place-Based Working ................................................................... 150 This symposium contribution presents something of a paradox: what can techniques that are designed to address policy and practice in a particular space offer to researching the issue of statelessness? Statelessness, after all, is often characterised as a condition of legal and sometimes physical limbo. Connections between statelessness and forms of contemporary slavery also tend to focus on the ramifications of movement. For example, the trafficking of people across borders results in many people losing evidence and benefits of citizenship, at least temporarily. In cases where people are exploited by members of their own family or by organised gangs operating within their own community, the ability to return to their home nation may be severely compromised. As a foreign national in the United Kingdom, being without a ‘conclusive grounds’ decision in regard to your claim of modern slavery can be detrimental to your case for asylum, 1 leaving you effectively stateless. However, if we want to address the challenges faced by individuals in respect to statelessness, it is also valuable to understand the personal, local, cultural, legislative and structural context in which those issues occur. Place-based approaches provide a framework for this synthesis. The British Academy describes place-based policy-making as ‘aligning the design and resourcing of policy at the most appropriate scale of place, in order to develop meaningful solutions, which improve people's lives’. 2 The optimal size and scope of any place-based initiative can vary, but relate to the nature of the problem and to resources, institutions, assets and communities that contribute to improving outcomes. Place-based research, policy-making and activism are often developed * 1 2 The Rights Lab, University of Nottingham. Potential victims of modern slavery are offered support through the National Referral Mechanism (‘NRM’), whilst a determination is made on whether they have experienced exploitation (conclusive grounds). Although this determination does not lead to automatic qualification for further benefits, it has been noted by non-governmental organisations that negative conclusive grounds decisions can impact on the success of asylum claims. Of the 10,627 people who were referred to the NRM in 2019, almost 80% were still awaiting a decision on their case by 10 February 2020 (when official end of year statistics were collated): National Referral Mechanism Statistics: UK, End of Year Summary, 2019 (Report, Home Office 2020) 3, 5–6 <https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-referralmechanism-statistics-uk-end-of-year-summary-2019> (‘2019 NRM End of Year Summary’). ‘Where We Live Now: Making the Case for Place-Based Policy’, British Academy (Web Page) <https://www.britac.ac.uk/tag/where-we-live-now>.