The claimants sought to maintain their claims for asylum. They had fled persecution, but before their claims for asylum were determined conditions in their home country changed so that they could no longer be said to have a well founded fear of persecution. Held: The decision on the grant required the fear to remain well … Continue reading Hoxha and Another v Secretary of State for the Home Department: HL 10 Mar 2005
1. The Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees 1951 provides greater protection than the minimum standards imposed by a literal interpretation) of Article 10(1)(d) of the Qualification Directive (Particular Social Group). Article 10 (d) should be interpreted by replacing the word ‘and’ between Article 10(1)(d)(i) and (ii) with the word ‘or’, creating an … Continue reading DH (Particular Social Group: Mental Health) Afghanistan: UTIAC 3 Jun 2020
The Tribunal had confirmed the appellant’s refugee status, but the respondent had ordered nevertheless that she be returned. The judge’s order setting aside that decision had been overturned in the Court of Appeal. Held: The claimant’s appeal failed. The Convention set two standards of protection for refugees. Article 33 prevented the return of anyone to … Continue reading ST Eritrea, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department: SC 21 Mar 2012
(Australia) A claim to refugee status was made by a husband and wife who had come from China to Australia. They said that they feared sterilization under the ‘one child policy’ of China if they were returned. Held: There is a general principle that there can only be a ‘particular social group’ within the Convention … Continue reading A v Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs and Another: 1997
The defendant appealed against his conviction in a case concerning the use of a false passport. The central issue was whether the appellant had a defence based upon the proposition that he was a refugee entitled to asylum in this country. He had been deported to Jamaica, but returned with a forged passport which was … Continue reading Evans, Regina v: CACD 23 Jan 2013
Even the justified fears of being stoned to death for adultery did not create a particular separate group from which protection from persecution could be claimed in support of an application for asylum. A ‘social group’ for refugee applicants, had to share common uniting characteristic which set that group apart from rest of that society. … Continue reading Regina v Immigration Appeal Tribunal Secretary of State for Home Department ex parte Shah and Others: CA 23 Jul 1997
A wife, afraid with cause of being stoned to death for adultery if she returned home, was part of ‘a particular social group’ within the Convention, and was entitled to claim asylum. Commenting on the unique complexity of such cases: ‘Its adjudication is not a conventional lawyer’s exercise of applying a legal litmus test to … Continue reading Regina v Immigration Appeal Tribunal, Secretary of State for Home Department ex parte Shah: Admn 25 Oct 1996
The claimant appealed against rejection of his claim for asylum and protection on human rights grounds. He said that if returned to Afghanistan he would face a real risk of serious harm. Judges: Pill, Rimer, Black LJJ Citations: [2010] EWCA Civ 1407 Links: Bailii Statutes: Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951), Immigration, … Continue reading Secretary of State for The Home Department v DD (Afghanistan): CA 10 Dec 2010
The Secretary of State appealed against an order requiring him to recognise the respondent as a refugee and to grant permissions accordingly. His ddecision to order her return had been contrary to a finding of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal. Held: The appeal succeeded. Stanley Burnton LJ said that he would hold: ‘that article 32 … Continue reading Secretary of State for The Home Department v ST (Eritrea): CA 9 Jun 2010
The Court asked: ‘1(a) Is a person who is outside his country of origin and recognised as a refugee, and who has subsequent to that recognition taken on the nationality of the host country, still a refugee within the meaning of the 1951 Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees?(b) If such a person does … Continue reading DL (DRC) v The Entry Clearance Officer, Pretoria: CA 18 Dec 2008
A scheme had been introduced to arrange pre-entry clearance for visitors to the United Kingdom by posting of immigration officers in the Czech Republic. The claimants argued that the system was discriminatory, because Roma visitors were now subjected to a much more rigorous examination than others, and also that the arrangement put the respondent in … Continue reading European Roma Rights Centre and others v Immigration Officer at Prague Airport and Another: CA 20 May 2003
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Preliminary objection rejected (victim); Violation of Art. 5-1; Non-pecuniary damage – finding of violation sufficient; Costs and expenses partial award – domestic proceedings; Costs and expenses partial award – Convention proceedings‘In order to determine whether someone has been ‘deprived of his liberty’ within the meaning of Article 5, the … Continue reading Amuur v France: ECHR 25 Jun 1996
The applicant had sought asylum. Her case had been refused, according to the law as stated at that time, but the decision then binding on the adjudicator (Shah), had been reversed in the House of Lords. It had now been held that the women of a country could be seen, at law, as a persecuted … Continue reading Regina (Ivanauskiene) v A Special Adjudicator: CA 31 Jul 2001
Both applicants, Islam and Shah, citizens of Pakistan, but otherwise unconnected with each other, had suffered violence in Pakistan after being falsely accused them of adultery. Both applicants arrived in the UK and were granted leave to enter as visitors for six months. Both applicants subsequently applied for asylum on the ground that having been … Continue reading Regina v Immigration Appeal Tribunal and Another ex parte Shah: HL 25 Mar 1999
When considering the fear of prosecution in an applicant for asylum, the degree of persecution expected from individuals outside the government was to be assessed in the context also of the attitude of the government of the country to such persecution, and the level of protection it was prepared to offer. The failure of state … Continue reading Horvath v Secretary of State for the Home Department: HL 7 Jul 2000
Where a conscientious civil servant was threatened by insurgents who sought to persuade her to use her position to their advantage, but that civil servants could not expected to receive the protection of her estate from such insurgents, the Convention would give her protection as a refugee for asylum. The position of government employees in … Continue reading Noune v Secretary of State for the Home Department: CA 20 Dec 2000
Mr Musisi sought entry to the United Kingdom as a visitor from Kenya. When that application looked as though it might fail, he claimed political asylum as a refugee from Uganda. His application for asylum was refused on the basis that he had come from a safe third country, Kenya. This decision was challenged on … Continue reading Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Musisi: HL 1987
US Board of Immigration Appeals – Held: ‘We find the well-established doctrine of ejusdem generis, meaning literally, ‘of the same kind,’ to be most helpful in construing the phrase ‘membership in a particular social group.’ That doctrine holds that general words used in an enumeration with specific words should be construed in a manner consistent … Continue reading In re Acosta: 1985
ECJ Reference for a preliminary ruling – Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, signed in Geneva on 28 July 1951 – Articles 23 and 26 – Area of freedom, security and justice – Directive 2011/95/EU – Rules relating to the content of international protection – Subsidiary protection status – Article 29 – Social welfare … Continue reading Alo (Judgment): ECJ 1 Mar 2016
ECJ Reference for a preliminary ruling – Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951 relating to the Status of Refugees – Article 31 – Third country national who has entered the territory of a Member State after passing through another Member State – Use of the services of human traffickers – Unauthorised entry and stay – … Continue reading Qurbani: ECJ 17 Jul 2014
ECJ Directive 2004/83/EC – Minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees – Stateless person of Palestinian origin who has not sought protection or assistance from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) – Application for refugee status – … Continue reading Bolbol (Area Of Freedom, Security And Justice): ECJ 17 Jun 2010
A fear of persecution which was justified only historically, was insufficient to justify an asylum claim. The applicant must show justification for contemporary fears. The applicant had been granted exceptional leave to remain in the UK, but wanted full refugee status because of the additional rights that would bring. In each case an applicant had … Continue reading Adan v Secretary of State for the Home Department: HL 6 Apr 1998
The asylum seeker was accused of complicity in war crimes in Sri Lanka. He had worked as an intelligence officer but his cover had been broken and he fled to the UK. It was said that he was excluded from protection as an asylum seeker. Held: The Home Secretary’s appeal failed. Article 28 is to … Continue reading JS (Sri Lanka), Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department: SC 17 Mar 2010
The House of Lords were concerned with the correct test to be applied in determining whether asylum seekers are entitled to the status of refugee. That in turn gave rise to an issue, turning upon the proper interpretation of Article 1.A(2) of the Convention. Held: When deciding whether an asylum applicant’s fear of persecution was … Continue reading Regina v Home Secretary, ex parte Sivakumaran: HL 16 Dec 1987
The court considered the claimants appeal against refusal of asylum and for his return to Palestine, against the case of MA which decided that denial of return to a stateless person to his country of former habitual residence did not of itself give . .
The applicant had claimed asylum on entry and was temporarily admitted. Though his claim for asylum was later refused, those admitted in this way were granted indefinite leave to remain. He had claimed and received benefits at first, but then these . .
The appellants had been refused refugee status on the ground that they were suspected of having been guilty of terrorist acts. They said that the definition of terrorism applied within the UK was wider than that in the Convention which contained the . .
The Convention gave protection to an asylum seeker fearing persecution by non-state agents in his country of origin where that government was unable or unwilling to provide protection. France and Germany did not recognise this right, and therefore . .
Extra Division, Inner House – The applicant sought leave to appeal against a decision of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal rejecting his appeals. The latter decision dismissed the applicant’s appeal against a decision of the respondent, the Home . .
Whether the respondent has a well-founded fear of being persecuted ‘for reasons of membership of a particular social group’: ‘The basis of the claim for asylum was that he was being persecuted by criminals while working as a security officer in a . .
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