Syrian refugee jailed in UK for using false papers – The Guardian
“Campaigners say conviction of asylum seeker for using fake papers and similar cases is abuse of immigration law.”
The Guardian, 24th August 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Category: refugees
Lawyers of refugees who were wrongly jailed criticised by Appeal Court – The Independent
“The Appeal Court has criticised the lawyers of five refugees who were wrongly jailed for carrying false documents after fleeing their countries under the threat of persecution.”
The Independent, 30th July 2013
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Legal aid residency tests ‘will leave migrant children destitute’ – The Guardian
“Abandoned migrant and trafficked children will be left destitute and at risk of exploitation if the government goes ahead with a plan to introduce residency tests to determine whether they qualify for legal aid, child protection experts are warning.”
The Guardian, 2nd June 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Regina v Asmeron – WLR
Regina v Asmeron [2013] EWCA Crim 435; [2013] WLR (D) 135
“Where a defendant was charged with an offence of entering the United Kingdom without a passport, contrary to section 2 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants etc) Act 2004, the court could only rule that the defendant’s explanation for so doing was incapable in law of amounting to a good reason or a reasonable excuse if it could properly be said, on the true construction of the Act, that it would be inconsistent with the essential nature and purpose of the offence for the defendant’s explanation to be capable of amounting to a defence. The fact that a defence might be considered hopeless on the merits was not a good reason for a judge to withdraw it from the jury.”
WLR Daily, 11th April 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Doctors ask court to decide whether refugee on hunger strike can be forcibly fed – The Independent
“Doctors have asked a court to decide whether a refugee on hunger strike can be forcibly fed. The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons and is referred to in court documents as ‘A’, went on hunger strike to demand that the UK Border Agency returns his passport.”
The Independent, 17th January 2013
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Abed El Karem El Kott and others v Bevándorlási és Állampolgársági Hivatal (ENSZ Menekültügyi Főbiztossága intervening) (Case C-364/11) – WLR Daily
“On its proper interpretation, article 12(1)(a) of Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2004 on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise needed international protection, and the content of the protection granted, the cessation of protection or assistance from organs or agencies of the United Nations other than the High Commission for Refugees ‘for any reason’ included the situation in which a person who, after actually availing himself of such protection or assistance, had ceased to receive it for a reason beyond his control and independent of his volition. Where the competent authorities of the member state responsible for examining the application for asylum established that the condition relating to the cessation of the protection or assistance provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was satisfied, the fact that that person was ipso facto ‘entitled to the benefits of [the] Directive’ meant that that member state must recognise him as a refugee within the meaning of article 2(c) of the Directive and that person must automatically be granted refugee status, provided always that he was not caught by article 12(1)(b) or (2) and (3) of the Directive.”
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Chagos Islanders forced into exile left ‘dumbstruck’ by court ruling – The Guardian
“Exiled Chagos Islanders living in Britain and Mauritius have said they are ‘dumbstruck’ by a European court ruling that it has no jurisdiction to examine their forced expulsion by the British government in the 1960s”
The Guardian, 20th December 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Model charity: ‘whatever happens, we’ll carry on, but it won’t be easy’ – The Guardian
“Southampton and Winchester Visitors Group, which supports destitute refugees, may be hit by sweeping legal aid cuts.”
The Guardian, 11th December 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
M v Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Ireland and another – WLR Daily
“The co-operation requirement in the second sentence of article 4(1) of Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2004 on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection and the content of the protection granted, did not require a competent national authority to inform an applicant, whose application for refugee status had already been rejected, of its intention to refuse, and its reasons for refusing, a request for subsidiary protection before adopting such a decision in order to enable the applicant to make known his views in that regard.”
WLR Daily, 22nd December 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Regina (EM (Eritrea)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; Regina (MA (Eritrea)) v Same; Regina (AE (Eritrea)) v Same; Regina (EH (Iran)) v Same – WLR Daily
“Persons who had sought, or been granted, asylum in Italy but had since come to the United Kingdom could not resist return to Italy on the ground that they faced inhuman or degrading treatment there unless it could be shown that there was a systemic deficiency in the system of refugee protection in that country. Short of such evidence, in respect of which the view of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (‘UNHCR’) was pre-eminent, even powerful evidence of individual risk was of no avail.”
WLR Daily, 17th October 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Chagos Refugees Group in the First-Tier Tribunal: some key points – Panopticon
“The Chagos Archipelago forms part of the British Indian Ocean Territory (‘BIOT’). In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the inhabitants of the Chagos Islands were required to leave those islands. At or around that time, a US military base was established on Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos Islands. The removal of the ‘Chagossians’ has been a matter of considerable political and media debate, as well as complex legal proceedings. Two legal challenges are ongoing: Chagos Islanders v UK before the European Court of Human Rights, and Bancoult (No 3) before the domestic courts.”
Panopticon, 24th September 2012
Source: www.panopticonblog.com
Afghan who helped torch car in London riots spared jail due to traumatic childhood – Daily Telegraph
“An Afghan refugee who helped set a police car ablaze in the London riots has been let off because of the violence he saw in his home country.”
Daily Telegraph, 11th September 2012
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
RT (Zimbabwe) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees intervening); SM (Zimbabwe) v Same (Same intervening); AM (Zimbabwe) v Same (Same intervening); KM (Zimbabwe) v Same (Same intervening) – WLR Daily
“A claim for asylum should not be defeated on the ground that an individual who had no political views, and who therefore did not support the persecutory regime in his home country, would lie and feign loyalty to that regime in order to avoid the persecutory ill treatment to which he would otherwise be subjected.”
WLR Daily, 25th July 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Does a Zimbabwe farm invader get refugee status? – UK Human Rights Blog
“SK (Zimbabwe) v Secretary of State for the Home Office 19 June 2012. This case raises the interesting question whether someone who was involved as a member of the ruling Zimbabwe Zanu PF party with farm invasions can be eligible for refugee status.”
UK Human Rights Blog, 5th July 2012
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
SK (Zimbabwe) v Secretary of State for the Home Department – WLR Daily
SK (Zimbabwe) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2012] EWCA Civ 807; [2012] WLR (D) 178
“The Secretary of State was entitled to refuse asylum to a woman who had participated in two farm evictions in Zimbabwe on the grounds that her participation in the evictions was a crime against humanity under article 1F(a) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The refusal was lawful even though the Secretary of State accepted that she would face a real risk of being subject to serious ill-treatment if returned to Zimbabwe, sufficient to breach her rights under article 3 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.”
WLR Daily, 19th June 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Removing full right of appeal for family visitors – UK Border Agency
“A clause in the Crime and Courts Bill, published today, will remove the full right of appeal for those applying to enter the UK as a family visitor. Subject to Parliamentary approval and Royal Assent, this change is expected to come into force by 2014. Refused applicants will still be able to appeal on limited grounds of human rights or race discrimination.”
UK Border Agency, 10th May 2012
Source: www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk
AH (Algeria) v Secretary of State for the Home Department – WLR Daily
AH (Algeria) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2012] EWCA Civ 395; [2012] WLR (D) 106
“In looking to the question whether an asylum seeker, who had been a member of a terrorist organisation and convicted of a crime outside the country of refuge, fell to be excluded from the Refugee Convention pursuant to article 1F(b) and (c) thereof, one had to avoid applying a presumption of individual liability; and in asking whether the crime in question was sufficiently ‘serious’ one also had to set the applicable threshold with care.”
WLR Daily, 2nd April 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Legal advice for migrants and refugees is already patchy – The Guardian
“Local authority cuts have hit some areas of London hard, and further cuts would have disastrous consequences.”
The Guardian, 6th December 2011
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Jamaican lesbian can stay in UK, tribunal rules – BBC News
“A Jamaican lesbian has won the right to stay in the UK after immigration judges ruled she risks persecution if she returns to her home country.”
BBC News, 6th July 2011
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
LSB publishes literature review of legal needs – Legal Services Board
“The LSB has conducted a review of existing research literature into the needs of different groups of legal services consumers. The review summarises the legal needs of a variety of different groups, their methods of accessing legal services and where their needs are not met. The review helps to identify gaps in existing research and will be used to target our future research programme.”
The Legal Needs of Consumer Groups (PDF)
Legal Services Board, 21st April 2011
Source: www.legalservicesboard.org.uk
