(Commission) Turkey argued that she had not extended her jurisdiction to the island of Cyprus because she had neither annexed a part of the island nor established a military or civil government there. She maintained that the administration of the Turkish Cypriot community had absolute jurisdiction over part of the island.
Held: The Commission described the scope of the SAA doctrine: ‘Nationals of a State, including registered ships and aircrafts, are partly within its jurisdiction wherever they may be, and…authorised agents of a State, including diplomatic or consular agents and armed forces, not only remain under its jurisdiction when abroad but bring any other persons or property ‘within the jurisdiction’ of that State, to the extent that they exercise authority over such persons or property. Insofar as, by their acts or omissions, they affect such persons or property, the responsibility of the State is engaged.’ The Commission set out the terms of reference of its future inquiry as necessitating an examination whether Turkey’s responsibility under the Convention was engaged ‘because persons or property in Cyprus have in the course of her military action come under her actual authority and responsibility at the time.’ and
‘It follows that these armed forces are authorised agents of Turkey and that they bring any other persons or property in Cyprus ‘within the jurisdiction’ of Turkey, in the sense of Art. 1 of the Convention, to the extent that they exercise control over such persons or property. Therefore, insofar as these armed forces, by their acts or omissions affect such persons’ rights or freedoms under the Convention, the responsibility of Turkey is engaged.’
Citations:
Unreported, May 1975, (1976) 4 EHRR 482
Jurisdiction:
Human Rights
Cited by:
Cited – Regina (on the Application of Mazin Mumaa Galteh Al-Skeini and Others) v The Secretary of State for Defence CA 21-Dec-2005
The claimants were dependants of Iraqi nationals killed in Iraq.
Held: The Military Police were operating when Britain was an occupying power. The question in each case was whether the Human Rights Act applied to the acts of the defendant. The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Human Rights
Updated: 01 December 2022; Ref: scu.238296
