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. Unless the Convention is seen as a living thing, adopted by civilised countries for a humanitarian end which is constant in motive but mutable in form, the Convention will eventually become an anachronism.
Judges:
Sedley J
Citations:
Times 13-Oct-1997, Gazette 24-Sep-1997, [1997] Imm AR 145, [1997] EWCA Civ 2173, [1998] 1 WLR 74
Statutes:
Geneva Convention and Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees 1951 (1951) (Cmd 9171) 1A(2), Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act 1993 8(2)
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – Regina v Immigration Appeal Tribunal and Another ex parte Shah HL 25-Mar-1999
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 . .
Cited – Sepet and Bulbil v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 20-Mar-2003
The appellants sought asylum. They were Kurdish pacifists, and claimed that they would be forced into the armed forces on pain of imprisonment if they were returned to Turkey.
Held: The concept of ‘persecution’ was central. It is necessary to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Immigration
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.86921