Introduction

ESRC LADO Network

The ESRC LADO Network is a network of researchers established through the UK Economic and Social Research Council grant no. RES-451-26-0911 to Prof. Peter L. Patrick of the University of Essex Dept. of Language & Linguistics and Human Rights Centre, in order to conduct a series of Research Seminars. The theme is "Language Analysis of Asylum Applicants: Foundations, Guidelines & Best Practice", and the meetings are to be held in 2011-12 at the University of Essex.

Participant Biography

Syd Bolton

...is a solicitor and co-director of The Refugee Children’s Rights Project at the Coram Children’s Legal Centre in London.  He is a member of the Family Justice Council’s Voice of the Child Sub-Group, chairs the Children’s Commissioner for England’s Advisory Board on Asylum and Trafficking and is an Associate Member and Assistant Rapporteur to the International Association of Refugee Law Judges. He is also a member of the Immigration Law Practitioner’s Association Executive Committee and Children’s Sub-Committee.

Syd has helped to draft international guidelines on procedural accommodations for child appellants and witnesses, protocols for information sharing between experts and the courts and contributed to “best practice” publications for working with asylum seeking children most recently Working with Refugee Children – Current issues in Best Practice (ILPA 2011) and Working with Children and Young People Subject to Immigration Control – Guidelines for Best Practice (ILPA 2012).  Syd has worked on behalf of children and young people seeking asylum since 1999, as a not-for-profit solicitor and an NGO policy and legal adviser.

He was previously with the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture and Refugee and Migrant Justice. Syd contributes regularly to publications, conferences, parliamentary briefings and training on children’s rights and international protection.

Email: sbolton            Please add:  @essex.ac.uk