Category: BLOG POSTS
25 April 2025 by Jennifer Zhou
In UK News:
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that ‘man,’ ‘woman,’ and ‘sex’ refer to biological sex in the Equality Act 2010 (EA 2010). The appeal in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16 concerned revised statutory guidance to the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018. The revised guidance defines ‘woman’ as including a person with a Gender Recognition Certificate. These Certificates are issued under the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA 2004) and change the recipient’s gender ‘for all purposes’ (section 9(1)); however, the GRA 2004 also provides that s9(1) can be disapplied by other legislation. This was termed a ‘carve out’ power in the Supreme Court’s judgment.
The Supreme Court held that the carve out applies to the EA 2010. In interpreting EA 2010, the Court looked to which definition of sex would make its provisions coherent and workable. A certificated-sex approach would create two sub-groups within the transgender community: those with a GRC would be entitled to greater rights than those without. The Court saw ‘no good reason’ why Parliament would intend this inequality of status. The Court also anticipated that parties seeking to fulfil their bifurcated duties under the EA 2010 would also face practical difficulties: there is no obvious outward difference between trans people with and without a GRC, and duty-bearers cannot ask whether a GRC has been obtained because it is confidential information.
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14 April 2025 by Georgia Bowen
In UK News
Asylum seekers held at the Manston holding facility in Kent are bringing legal action against the government for unlawful detention and other rights violations. The claims stem from a period between June and November 2022 in which the centre meant for a maximum of 1,600 people was holding more than 3,000 in unsanitary, overcrowded conditions. Described as a ‘humanitarian crisis on British soil’ by one union official as well as a solicitor for the claimants, detainees suffered outbreaks of infectious disease such as norovirus, scabies and even diphtheria, from which one man died. The conditions left the Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration ‘speechless’. The claimants include a Syrian woman who, having arrived at the centre with her husband and five young children, suffered a miscarriage while unable to access medical care at the centre. Another is a 19-year-old Sudanese victim of trafficking and torture. He was left regularly hungry and only allowed one shower during his 33 day detention, during which no attention was paid to his particular vulnerabilities. A 17-year old Kurdish teenager from Iraq was detained for 12 days, with his age recorded as five years older despite his protestations, also joins the action. The government has faced many legal challenges of a similar nature, such as the recent High Court ruling that three vulnerable asylum seekers were unlawfully housed at former RAF base Wethersfield.
The UK Supreme Court ruled last week on the scope of a local authority’s duty to secure temporary accommodation for qualifying homeless people in Scotland. Giving the court’s unanimous judgment, Lady Simler distinguished between the local authority’s duties relating to interim as opposed to permanent housing. These duties are respectively imposed by section 29 and section 31 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987. At the interim stage, the local authority is under a duty to take a household’s needs into account but is not required to meet all those specific needs. The latter requirement only applies at the permanent stage. This reasoning led to the dismissal of the appeal, in which the appellant contended that the four-room temporary housing provided by Glasgow City Council was ‘unsuitable’ for the needs of her family of six considering her son’s autism and special needs, relying on s.39(3) of the 1987 Act and article 4(b) of the Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) Order 2014. Lady Simler explained that the obligation to secure permanent accommodation is necessarily more onerous and outcome-specific than the duties at the interim stage.
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7 April 2025 by Rebecca Ebner-Landy
In UK News
The Sentencing Council has suspended plans for new guidelines which could have led to different sentences depending on someone’s age, sex and ethnicity. The Sentencing Council’s decision to suspend plans comes in the wake of ministers preparing to “disapply” wording in the revised sentencing guidelines on the imposition of community and custodial sentences, through primary legislation. Justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, had aimed to pass a bill through Parliament to halt the guidelines within 24 hours but was informed that it would be impossible before the Easter recess. Given that the revised sentencing guidelines were due to take effect in England and Wales last Tuesday, there would have been a “confusing period” during which time the guidelines would be enforced before being declared illegal.
These guidelines had specified a list of 10 groups for whom pre-sentence reports would “normally be necessary”. The groups in question included “those from an ethnic minority, cultural minority, and/or faith minority community.” In other words, the guidelines would have required magistrates and judges to consult a pre-sentence report before deciding whether to imprison someone of an ethnic and religious minority, in addition to other groups like young adults, abuse survivors and mothers. In doing so, the system would have “taken into account structural disparities in sentencing outcomes” and would have introduced measures targeted at combating racism in the courts. Senior legal figures, and the Society of Black Lawyers, have emphasised that the guidelines were an attempt to achieve “equal treatment” after “racist two-tier policing for 500 years”, specifically through attempting to address disparities in sentencing between white and non-white offenders.
After a meeting on Monday, the Sentencing Council confirmed it would not be introducing the guidelines when “there is a draft bill due for imminent introduction that would make it unlawful”. This follows the Sentencing Council having previously rejected a request from Mahmood to remove the ten specified groups as she said they would “single out specific cohorts for differential treatment”. In making this request, Mahmood had sought to demonstrate to the public that “Parliament is sovereign” and “everyone is treated equally by the criminal justice system”.
This matter has created tension between the executive and the judiciary, who make up the majority of the Sentencing Council. Mahmood has told MPs that the Sentencing Council’s role will be subject to review. In the Commons on Tuesday, Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary called for Lord Justice Davis, the head of the Sentencing Council for England and Wales to be sacked over the row. Lord Hermer KC, Attorney General, speaking to Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights, has since emphasised that political attacks on judges are a “huge threat to the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary”.
In International News
Hungary is due to leave the International Criminal Court on grounds that it has become “political”. This was announced during a visit to Hungary by Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister, who is the subject of an ICC arrest warrant which was issued on 21st November 2024. Prior to this visit, Human Rights Watch had urged Hungary to deny entry to Netanyahu or to arrest him upon entry, in light of the arrest warrant. Specifically, Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch outlined how Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s invitation to Netanyahu was an “affront to victims of serious crimes” and urged Hungary to “comply with its legal obligations as a party to the ICC.”
As a member of the ICC, Hungary was in theory obliged to arrest Netanyahu in line with the ICC warrant. However, Orbán had previously said the ruling would have no effect in Hungary. Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó had notably criticised the warrants as “shameful and absurd” and “unacceptable”. Hungary has aligned itself with other European countries including France, Italy, Poland, Romania and Germany who have emphasised their non-committal to enforcement of the ICC’s warrant to arrest Netanyahu.
In announcing Hungary’s decision to leave the ICC this week, Orbán proclaimed that the ICC had “diminished into a political forum”, something that had “become the clearest in light of its decisions on Israel”. Netanyahu has thanked Orbán for taking a “bold and principled” position against the ICC.
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31 March 2025 by Benjamin Savill
In the news
The University of Sussex has received a record fine of £585,000 from the UK Office for Students (OfS) for what it has called a “fail[ure] to uphold freedom of speech and academic freedom”. The fine follows an investigation into the circumstances behind the resignation of the philosopher Kathleen Stock, who left the University in 2019 after becoming the object of student protests for her “gender critical views”. The OfS’s investigation focussed primarily on the University’s ‘Trans and Non Binary Equality Policy Statement’, which it claims created a “chilling effect”, giving rise to “the potential for staff and students to self-censor and not speak about or express certain lawful views.” The OfS states that the University may not have complied with section 43 of the Education (No. 2) Act 1986 (duty relating to freedom of speech); Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) (the right to freedom of expression); Section 19 of the Equality Act 2010 (indirect discrimination); and the Public Sector Equality Duty.
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27 March 2025 by Tehreem Sultan
The Supreme Court in British Indian Ocean Territory ruled in December on an important issue concerning the detention of asylum seekers in Diego Garcia. While their cause has progressed (including in a settlement reached on behalf of many, and in this judgment).
Ms Justice Obi, Acting Justice of the Supreme Court of the British Indian Ocean Territory, determined that the Claimants had been unlawfully detained since their arrival in October 2021.
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24 March 2025 by Georgia Bowen
UK news
One in three criminal barristers actively intend to quit the profession, a national survey by the Criminal Bar Association has revealed. A further third is actively considering moving to a new discipline. The survey received 1,717 responses, which the association has stated is ‘well above that of nationally representative surveys which are relied upon by Government’. Only 44% remain committed to a practice of primarily publicly funded work. Further, the Judicial Attitudes Survey has indicated that 35% of Circuit Judges sitting in criminal courts intend to leave in the next five years. The reasons behind the collapse in commitment to the profession are familiar, stemming from longstanding underfunding to the justice system. 92% answered that adequate and fair remuneration was necessary to reverse the trend. The implications for the access to justice for defendants, as well as redress for victims of crime, are clear, as the criminal court backlog continues to reach record highs.
International news
The largest protests in over a decade have erupted in Turkey following the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul and the President’s main political rival, Ekrem Imamoglu. His detention on corruption charges occurred just days before he was expected to be announced as a candidate for the 2028 Presidential Election. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has denied the allegations of his opponents that the arrest is politically motivated. In defiance of a ban on gatherings, protestors have clashed with police as a primary ballot was held across Turkey to choose the opposition candidate for the Republican People’s Party. Further, social media platform X has released a statement identifying multiple court orders from Turkish authorities to block more than 700 accounts belonging to news organisations, journalists, political figures and students. The statement reads “We believe this decision from the Turkish government is not only unlawful, it hinders millions of Turkish users from news and political discourse in their country” and they “will always defend freedom of speech everywhere we operate”. Imamoglu’s arrest took place a few days after US President Trump and Erdogan’s telephone conversation, which commentators have suggested has likely emboldened the Turkish President’s actions. However, despite domestic outrage, international condemnation have thus far been muted. With the second largest army in NATO, Turkish forces may be an essential component of a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine. The response of European and world leaders remains to be seen.
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24 March 2025 by Rosalind English
Non-human animals lack agency. They’re not legal entities. They’re mere possessions, like furniture. Of course, there are laws around to stop us trashing them like furniture. How well those laws are enforced is a big question. Another challenge is the purpose for which these animals are kept. Companion animals enjoy much better protection under the law than animals kept for commercial purposes such as food. When this country left the EU the recognition of animal sentience under Article 13 of the EU Treaty was not kept as part of retained EU law. The government at the time made it clear that the reason that they didn’t want to retain it is because they wanted to do something different. And that is the recognition of animal consciousness in the Animal Welfare (Sentience Act) 2022 with a committee that is dedicated to looking at policy and deciding whether ministers have had due regard to the welfare of animals as sentient beings in formulating that policy.
Has this legislation made any difference to the animals hidden from sight in the farming industry? In Episode 217 of Law Pod UK Rosalind English talks to Edie Bowles of the Animal Law Foundation and Dr Rachel Dunn from Leeds Beckett University, both experts in this area, about the difficulties of compliance and enforcement of animal welfare legislation and the general hoodwinking of the purchasing public by misleading labelling and misinformation about farmed animals in the media.
Here is a short animation from the German studio Kurzgesagt which is rich in information on the subject of food animals: This is not an anti-meat video
Law Pod UK is published by 1 Crown Office Row. Supporting articles are published on the UK Human Rights Blog. Follow and interact with the podcast team on Twitter.
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17 March 2025 by Rebecca Ebner-Landy
In UK News
Keir Starmer announced plans to cut billions of pounds from the welfare system, specifically working-age health and disability benefits. This week, Starmer called Britain’s benefits system the “worst of all worlds” and has said that the Government could not just “shrug its shoulders and look away” given that the number of people who are out of work or training is “indefensible and unfair”. Ahead of the Spring Statement, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has earmarked several billion pounds in draft spending cuts to welfare and other government departments. Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has been getting ready to announce changes to the welfare system and reduce the benefits bill. Changes would likely include restrictions on eligibility for the Personal Independent Payment (“PIP”) and cuts to incapacity benefits for those unable to work and receiving Universal Credit.
The Government’s core rationale for making these cuts is that welfare spending has increased dramatically in recent years. Total welfare spending is forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to reach almost £378bn by the end of the decade because of the ageing and increasingly unwell population, the Government’s triple lock, and rising caseloads for health and disability benefits.
As a result of the proposed cuts, Starmer is facing the most significant rebellion among Labour MPs to date. Rachel Maskell, who previously called on her party to reverse its decision to end universal winter fuel payments, has expressed concern about “draconian cuts”, whilst Neil Duncan-Jordan expressed fear that the move signals a “re-run of austerity”. Reports suggest that dozens of other MPs have expressed concerns in private that Rachel Reeves could make even deeper cuts to working-age benefits than Conservative Chancellor George Osborne. As would be expected, the Government is also facing backlash from charities and campaigners who argue that benefit cuts would affect the poorest and most vulnerable people in British society the hardest. In contrast, the Get Britain Working group of 36 Labour MPs has come out in support of the cuts. They believe the Government has a “moral duty” to help long-term sick and disabled people through making “hard choices” to overcome the “crisis of economic activity”.
Liz Kendall was expected to set out plans in more detail in the House of Commons early next week. However, as of Saturday, Downing Street may now be considering a U-turn on the cuts to benefits in light of the backlash from within the party and following a tense cabinet meeting.
In International News
In the wake of a turbulent Tuesday on Wall Street, Donald Trump’s tariffs came into effect on Wednesday. The United States introduced a 25% tariff on global steel and aluminium imports. These tariffs will cover household goods like tin foil, stainless steel cooking ware, electrical appliances, window frames, among other products. This follows the 25% tariffs that have already been imposed on other imports from Mexico and Canada (with exceptions) and a 20% levy on Chinese goods. Trump, on Tuesday, threatened to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium after Canada threatened to increase electricity prices for US customers, but subsequently backed down later that day. Germany, Ireland and Italy – countries which operate a good trade surplus with the US – are likely to be worst hit by the tariffs.
The European Union has said that it will be imposing counter measures on €26bn (£21.9bn, $28.3bn) worth of US goods in response to Donald Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminium. The tariffs, which will be brought in gradually between 1st – 13th April to leave time for negotiations with Washington, have been described by President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen as “strong but proportionate”. The US has threatened a 200% tariff on wine and champagne from European Union countries in response. Canada, meanwhile, has announced it will be placing retaliatory tariffs on more than $20bn of goods imported from the US. Keir Starmer, in turn, has said that he is “disappointed” about the imposition of US tariffs on British steel and aluminium imports without announcing retaliatory measures.
Turning to the ongoing negotiations around the war in Ukraine, which have been taking place in Saudi Arabia, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has agreed to a 30-day ceasefire, whilst Donald Trump announced the US would lift its restrictions on military aid and intelligence. At the same time, Zelenskyy has emphasised that support from other countries would be needed to monitor the ceasefire along the frontline. Russia has not committed to the ceasefire proposal in its current form, saying that the proposal would give Ukrainian forces a reprieve. The Kremlin has said there are “reasons to be cautiously optimistic” but that there is “still much to be done”. In a virtual meeting with world leaders held on Saturday, Keir Starmer said that Putin’s response to the ceasefire is “not good enough”, and agreed for military planners to meet in the UK on Thursday to “progress practical plans for how our militaries can support Ukraine’s future security”. Meanwhile, in recent days Russia has intensified efforts to push Ukrainian forces out of the Russian region of Kursk, making major advances, including the recapture of Sudzha, the largest town held by Ukrainian forces.
In the Courts
The Court of Appeal has handed down judgement in Prestwick Care Limited, R (on the application of) v SSHD [2025] EWCA Civ 184. This case relates to the circumstances in which the Home Office can revoke a care home’s sponsor licence. The main question in the two joined appeals was whether the Secretary of State is required to assess how revoking a sponsor licence would affect the sponsor, its employees, service users, and wider community care needs before making a decision. The Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the Secretary of State, finding no legal basis in statute or guidance for the additional requirements proposed by the two care homes. The Court held that sponsors should not assume they will receive special consideration solely because revoking their licence could disrupt social care services. It determined that imposing these requirements would be “contrary to the principles established in case law” and would undermine “the regime contained in the Guidance”. Baker LJ emphasised that obtaining a sponsor licence is a choice made by providers for their own benefit but comes with strict conditions set out in the guidance. In applying for a licence, sponsors “know that, if they fail to meet the requirements of the Guidance, the consequences provided for in the Guidance will apply”.
The appeal by Prestwick Care was dismissed on this basis. In the Supporting Care Limited case, the Court ruled that the Secretary of State had succeeded in establishing that the judge at first instance was wrong to allow Supporting Care Limited’s claim for judicial review to succeed on the ground that the Secretary of State had failed to conduct an “adequately reasoned” global assessment of the impact of revocation. However, the Court upheld the first-instance order quashing the revocation on different grounds, namely that the Secretary of State had shown procedural unfairness on the facts in concluding that Supporting Care Limited had “deliberately exaggerated” an employee’s role to facilitate her stay in the UK.
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12 March 2025 by Lucy McCann
Law Pod UK is marking International Women’s Day by bringing you the final episode of its three-part series exploring gender at the Bar.
In this episode Lucy and Kiran explore the themes of belonging and community at the Bar. How does imposter syndrome manifest itself? Why are role models important? How can we strengthen networks to encourage other women?
Law Pod UK is published by 1 Crown Office Row. Supporting articles are published on the UK Human Rights Blog. Follow and interact with the podcast team on Twitter.
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12 March 2025 by Shaheen Rahman
N3 & ZA v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] UKSC 6 concerned orders depriving two British people of their citizenship on national security grounds. The Defendant (initially) contended that to do so would not render them stateless, because they were dual British Bangladeshi nationals.
The use of deprivation orders in this context has been controversial, with critics across the political spectrum. Notably, writing in the Spectator, Jacob Rees-Mogg said of the Shamima Begum case:
“The ability to deprive people, who have a claim to another citizenship, of their British passport, creates two categories of Briton. Those with no right to another nationality are in the first-class carriage. Whatever they do, they cannot be made an exile or outlaw and expelled from the country. On the other hand, those who themselves came to the UK or whose parents did so are in the second-class carriage. They may be stripped of their citizenship even if they have never claimed another foreign nationality or even visited the country. This is a fundamentally racist policy as it denies the absolute Britishness of all those who are either recent immigrants themselves or their children.”
In the instant case, the deprivation orders were subsequently withdrawn. The Supreme Court has held that the effect of that withdrawal is that the Appellants are to be treated as having been British Citizens throughout.
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10 March 2025 by Jennifer Zhou
In UK News:
The Sentencing Council caused controversy with its new guidance on imposing community and custodial sentences. Previously, magistrates and judges were told they ‘should request’ a pre-sentence report (PSR) ‘whenever the court reaches the provisional view that a community order may be appropriate’ unless the court considers it unnecessary. The new guidance strengths the obligation so that courts ‘must request and consider’ a PSR ‘before forming an opinion of the sentence’ unless it considers this unnecessary. It also adds a list of offenders for whom a PSR ‘will normally be considered necessary,’ including female and transgender offenders and those from an ethnic, cultural, and/or faith minority. The guidelines’ stated aim is to give sentencers ‘the most comprehensive information available about the circumstances of the offender and the offence.’ They take effect from 1 April 2025.
The government’s Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme will be broadened to postmasters who have had their convictions overturned by the courts. From 3 June 2025, these postmasters—who are currently covered by the Post Office’s Overturned Convictions scheme—can apply for redress from the government. £1.8 billion has been pledged to compensate the victims of the Post Office scandal.
Convicted female minors will no longer be placed in Young Offender Institutions, the government has announced. This adopts a recommendation in an independent review of girls in custody, undertaken by Susannah Hancock and published earlier this month. Girls will instead be placed in settings such as Secure Children’s Homes and Secure Schools.
In International News:
A death row inmate in Louisana is challenging his method of execution in court. Jessie Hoffman Jr., who was to become the first man in the state executed by nitrogen gas, is arguing for a more ‘humane’ means of death before a Baton Rouge federal court. His legal team has argued that death by nitrogen hypoxia is a cruel and unusual punishment under the US Constitution. Additionally, they say that it infringes on his freedom to practice his religion, namely Buddhist breathing and meditation exercises.
In the Courts:
16 Just Stop Oil activists appealed against their sentences (R v Hallam and Others [2025] EWCA Crim 199). They had been variously convicted of: occupying roads leading to the Navigator oil terminal in Thurrock; throwing soup on Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’; climbing or attempting to climb gantries on the M25; and conspiracy in relation to the M25 protest. The Sunflowers offenders were convicted of criminal damage; the others were convicted of, or pled guilty to, public nuisance offences.
The court stated that the leading authority on sentencing-related issues in cases of nonviolent protests—such as conscientious motivation and deterrence—was R v Trowland [2023] EWCA Crim 919. They emphasised that conscientious motivation could be factored into the assessment of culpability, but does not prevent a finding of high culpability, and that a judge is not obliged to specify the amount by which they have reduced a custodial term to reflect conscientious motivation. They also discussed the relevance of Article 10 ECHR (freedom of expression) and Article 11 (peaceful assembly). It was held that the common law and the ECHR are in step, and the fact that the appellants’ actions constituted criminal conduct significantly weakened the protections afforded by the ECHR.
After considering the specific facts of each appellant’s case, the court quashed the sentences of 6 appellants and substituted lower ones. Roger Hallam, Just Stop Oil’s co-founder, had his 5-year sentence substituted for a 4-year one. Both ‘Sunflowers’ offenders had their appeals dismissed.
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5 March 2025 by Matthew Leitch
Background
In RTM v Bonne Terre Ltd [2025] EWHC 111 (KB), the High Court considered claims brought in data protection and the tort of misuse of private information. The Claimant described himself as a “recovering online gambling addict” [1]. He sought damages for harm, distress and financial loss, and a declaration that his rights under data protection legislation had been infringed, from the Defendant, who operate Sky Betting and Gaming (SBG). The relevant period of the Claimant’s gambling for the claim against SBG (restricted by limitation periods) was 2017 until the end of 2018 or the start of 2019 [15].
The Claimant’s case was that SBG harvested his data using cookies without his consent. SBG the processed his personal data for marketing purposes without lawful basis, and targeted him through direct marketing emails (also without his consent) sent on average twice a day [68]. Consequently, he alleged he suffered substantial losses.
Despite the claim having started in an almost inquisitorial fashion, with the Claimant undertaking a broad investigation into gambling laws when recovering from his addiction, the narrow issue at trial was “what, if anything, [the Claimant] consented to in the marketing part of the operation” [77].
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3 March 2025 by Benjamin Savill
In the news
Friedrich Merz, the presumed incoming chancellor of Germany, has declared that he will invite Benjamin Netanyahu to the country, despite the arrest warrant issued for the latter by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Merz, whose Christian Democratic Union won the largest share of votes in Germany’s general election on 23 February, announced shortly after his victory that he had already spoken with the Israeli Prime Minister, and pledged to find “ways and means” of arranging his visit to the state. The ICC issued its warrant in November last year, after its Pre-Trial Chamber found “reasonable grounds to believe” that Netanyahu and his then defence minister Yoav Gallant “bear criminal responsibility for… the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.” As a signatory of the Rome Statute, Germany is obliged under domestic and international law to detain ICC suspects facing arrest warrants should they enter its territory. A spokesperson for Netanyahu praised Germany’s “overt defiance of the scandalous International Criminal Court decision”.
The UN Human Rights Office has publicised further details of the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Speaking in Geneva on 24 February, DRC Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka claimed that around 7,000 people had died since the renewal of the country’s internal conflict at the beginning of the year, with 3,000 killed in the eastern city of Goma alone. Around half a million people are understood to be without shelter after the destruction of almost 100 displacement camps, while over 40,000 refugees have entered neighbouring Burundi over the past month. The conflict centres around the 8,000-strong rebel militia M23, who are seeking to advance to the DRC capital of Kinshasa and seize power. The UN Human Rights Council last month adopted a resolution to establish a fact-finding mission into the ongoing conflict, “to investigate… the alleged violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law, including those affecting women and children, and which include sexual or gender-based violence committed against internally displaced persons or refugees, and of potential international crimes.” The Council has condemned Rwanda’s support for the rebels.
In the courts
The European Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg has held Cyprus to have been in violation of Articles 3 and 8 of the European Convention (ECHR) for its handling of a rape complaint by a British national in 2019. X v Cyprus (application no. 40733/22) concerned a resident of Derbyshire who, then aged nineteen, had reported a gang-rape in Ayia Napa to the Cypriot police. Following ten days of intensive questioning – without access to a lawyer, psychologist, or welfare officer – the claimant retracted her statement, only to be prosecuted for public mischief, for which she was found guilty at first instance (she was later acquitted on appeal by Cyprus’ Supreme Court). In its judgment handed down on 27 February, the Strasbourg court held unanimously that the authorities’ treatment of the claimant “fell short of the State’s positive obligation to apply the relevant criminal provisions in practice through effective investigation and prosecution”, thus violating ECHR Articles 3 (prohibition of degrading treatment or punishment) and 8 (right to respect for private and family life). The court has ordered Cyprus to pay the applicant €25,000 in damages and costs. Its judgment did not address the alleged rape itself, which remains unprosecuted.
In the UK, the Upper Tribunal has overturned a decision by the Home Office to deport an NHS doctor it accused of having “supported an act of terrorism” on social media. In R (on the application of Elwan) v Secretary of State for Home Department, the Tribunal undertook judicial review of the Home Secretary’s decision in November 2023 to refuse an application for indefinite leave to remain, and cancel the existing leave to remain, of Dr Menatalla Elwan, an Egyptian national working in Liverpool. Dr Elwan had published three anti-Israeli posts on her Twitter/X account within hours of the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023. While the Home Secretary “was rationally entitled to reach the conclusion that the posts were likely to cause community tensions within the UK and foster hatred which might lead to inter-community violence” and were “capable of crossing the line into conduct which was not conducive to the public good”, the Tribunal considered the Home Office’s exercise of powers disproportionate, taking into account Dr Elwan’s ECHR rights under Articles 8 (respect for private and family life – she had lived outside Egypt for nine years) and 10 (freedom of expression). Judge Stephen Davies held that Dr Elwan’s claim for judicial review of her refused application for indefinite leave to remain failed, but the review of the cancellation of her temporary leave to remain was successful. The latter decision was quashed, with the Home Secretary instructed to consider Dr Elwan’s case afresh.
An appeal to Article 8 rights has meanwhile failed in the case of S v F and M [2025] EWHC 439 (Fam). In its judgment handed down on 27 February, the High Court dismissed the application of S – a fourteen-year-old UK national whose parents had sent him to a boarding school in Ghana against his will – to be returned to the jurisdiction of England and Wales. Mr Justice Hayden held that, while “the Family Court, in its domestic case law, has long emphasised the obligation to comply with both Article 12 [of the United Nations Convention of Rights of the Child: “the views of the child [must be] given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child”] and Article 8 [ECHR]”, the views of the parents, that S was at high risk of gang “grooming” in London, were of persuasive force. “The decision falls within what I regard as the generous ambit of parental decision making, in which the State has no dominion… I share their view of where their son’s best interests lie.”
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28 February 2025 by Leo Kirby
In Sleeper v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2025] EWHC 151 (KB) Mr Justice Sweeting dismissed an appeal against the decision of HHJ Saggerson to dismiss a claim against the Metropolitan Police by a street preacher arrested for displaying anti-Muslim signs.
The claim was both for the tort of false imprisonment (which involved a challenge to the legality of his arrest) and for a remedy breach of his rights under the Human Rights Act 1998 directly, though the latter was time barred and not resurrected on appeal.
Mr Justice Sweeting’s judgment provides insight into how the courts assess the interplay of Articles 9, 10 and 11 of the European Convention of Human Rights (“ECHR”) and domestic criminal law.
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25 February 2025 by Rosalind English
In Episode 215 Jonathan Sumption, formerly of the Supreme Court and author of five volumes of the Hundred Years War, says, after some reflection that “the ECHR is manifestly not a sensible and democratic way of deciding what the law should be in a democracy.
“The Strasbourg Court is a wholly irresponsible body…in the sense that it is not responsible to anyone”
Listen to Rosalind English in conversation with Lord Sumption about the reasons why this country should prepare for withdrawal from the ECHR; the “mission creep” of Articles 6 and 8; the avid adoption of the “living instrument” doctrine whereby that court extends its jurisdiction beyond its original remit; the “contempt” showed by the Strasbourg Court at the Swiss government’s democratic handling of climate change emissions, and the possible reputational consequences of the UK removing itself from the Council of Europe.
Law Pod UK aims to inform and enlighten our audience on important developments in civil and public law with a range of guests from 1 Crown Office Row and other legal experts. Law Pod UK is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Audioboom, Player FM, ListenNotes, Podbean, iHeart, Radio Public, Deezer or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
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