And in the week when Lord Geidt resigned as Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests.

Asylum seekers, Rwanda and the ECtHR

On 14 June, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) granted an urgent interim measure in the case of KN v United Kingdom (no. 28774/22). The applicant, an Iraqi national, claimed asylum upon arrival in the UK on 17 May 2022 and was facing removal to Rwanda on the evening of 14 June. The Court told the UK Government that KN should not be removed to Rwanda until three weeks after the delivery of the final domestic decision in his ongoing judicial review proceedings. Joshua Rozenberg comments, incisively as always, here. (In two later applications, RM v UK (no. 29080/22) and HN v UK (no. 29084/22)), the Court also decided to apply an interim measure under Rule 39 staying their removal.)

Not much to do with “religion”, you might think – but there was a furore in some of the UK media and strident calls from some MPs on the Government benches for the UK’s withdrawal from the jurisdiction of the ECtHR, which would, in effect, mean withdrawal from the Council of Europe and the repudiation of the ECHR – Article 9 included. Continue reading →