Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill

My Lords, I thank the Minister for her explanation of these amendments. I seek an assurance from her about the position on something I raised in Grand Committee. Given her explanation, I suspect she will easily be able to give me reassurance. As I have given her advance notice, it is a matter on which I require something to be put clearly on the record. In Grand Committee, on 19 January at col. 258, I asked how Clause 52 would affect the position of child soldiers. There must be occasions when such children will seek to come here for refuge. We would all hope and expect that their application will be considered positively on the basis that they acted under duress. All too often we hear of children as young as 10 or even less being kidnapped and, by force majeure, forced to become soldiers. They are traumatised, often given drugs so that they can be kept in thrall, and they can be psychologically as well as physically damaged. Clause 52 had appeared to prevent consideration of their cases on the basis of the acts that they had committed. In response to my query, the Minister said in Grand Committee that the Government,"““would of course consider every case on its individual merits and absolutely take into account issues of coercion—that is a critical issue in these particular tragic circumstances””." She went on to say:"““Clause 52 does not remove that element of discretion, so there is no question that child soldiers would be automatically excluded under the clause””.—[Official Report, 19/01/06; col. GC 264.]" In the light of the Government’s amendments to Clause 52 and their tabling of the new clause after Clause 52 today, I therefore need to ask the Minister to confirm whether her undertaking given in Grand Committee holds true for the new clause.