Commentary on provisions of the Act Section 6: Removal for the purposes of section 2 or 4
Subsection (1) specifies that where the duty to make arrangements for removal applies, the Secretary of State must ensure the person is removed as soon as reasonably practicable. In the case of an unaccompanied child, this should be as soon as reasonably practicable once they have ceased to be an unaccompanied child, that is once they have turned 18. The provisions also apply to an unaccompanied child where the Secretary of State has decided to exercise the power in section 4(2) to make removal arrangements.
	A person may be removed to a country or territory where: they have nationality or citizenship; have a passport or other identity document for; where they embarked for the UK from; or where they will be admitted (subsection (3)). These alternatives are subject to the exceptions provided for in subsections (4) to (11).
	Subsections (4) to (6) provide for exceptions in respect of nationals of countries to which section 80A of the 2002 Act applies. Section 80A of the 2002 Act currently provides that asylum claims from EU nationals must be declared inadmissible to the UK’s asylum system, save in exceptional circumstances as a result of which the Secretary of State considers that the claim ought to be considered. Section 59 extends the application of section 80A of the 2002 Act to nationals of other safe countries as listed (along with EU member states) in new section 80AA(1) of the 2002 Act. Subsection (4) provides that a national of a country listed in new section 80AA(1) of the 2002 Act may not be returned to their home country (that is a country falling within subsection (3)(a) or (b)) if they have made a protection claim (that is a claim for asylum under the Refugee Convention) or human rights claim and the Secretary of State considers there are exceptional circumstances which prevent the person’s removal to that country. Subsection (5) sets out a non-exhaustive list of exceptional circumstances. In such a case a national of a country to which section 80A of the 2002 Act applies may be returned to a third country or territory, but only if that country or territory is listed in Schedule 1 to the Act (subsection (7)).
	Subsections (8) and (9) apply to nationals of a country not listed in new section 80AA(1) of the 2002 Act who have made a protection claim or human rights claim (if they have not made such a claim they will be removed to their home country). Such a person may not be removed to their home country (that is one falling within subsection (3)(a) or (b)), but may instead be removed either to the country or territory where they embarked for the UK from or to a country or territory where they will be admitted if, in each case, it is listed as a safe country or territory in Schedule 1 to the Act.
	If the country of removal listed in Schedule 1 is only safe for persons of a certain description, that is, men, it will only be considered a safe country of removal if the person fits that description (subsection (10)).
	If the country of removal listed in Schedule 1 references only a part of that country, only that part of the country will be considered safe for removal (subsection (11)).
	Subsection (12) is a further transitional provision linked to that in section 5(8). The effect of subsection (12) is that the provisions of this section governing the country to which a person may be removed will apply to persons who made a claim in the period between the date of Royal Assent of the Act and commencement but whose claim is outstanding on commencement.
	Where additional States are added to the list of safe countries in new section 80AA(1) of the 2002 Act, the same provisions will apply to nationals of these countries if they have made claims after the date of Royal Assent, and where that claim has not been decided by the Secretary of State before the country has been added to the list in section 80AA(1) of the 2002 Act (subsection (14)).