Search Results for: puberty blockers consent/page/28/Freedom of information - right of access) [2015] UKUT 159 (AAC) (30 March 2015)

Prisoners’ Legal Aid, Malayan Killings and the Role of the Judiciary – the Human Rights Roundup

23 March 2014 by Celia Rooney

Welcome back to the UK Human Rights Roundup, your regular springtime blossom of human rights news and views.  The full list of links can be found here.  You can find previous roundups here.  Links compiled by Adam Wagner, post by Celia Rooney. 

This week, a challenge to the legal aid reforms by the Howard League for Penal Reform is rejected, while campaigners seeking an inquiry into the action of British soldiers in Malaya in 1948 face similar disappointment.  Meanwhile, some of the most senior judges in the UK give their views on the role of the judiciary today.

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Open justice and crosses to bear – The Human Rights Roundup

29 March 2011 by Graeme Hall

It’s time for the human rights roundup, a regular bulletin of all the law we haven’t quite managed to feature in full blog posts. The full list of links, updated each day, can be found here.

by Graeme Hall

In the news:

James Wilson, writing in the Halsbury’s Law Exchange blog, examines Lord Neuberger’s discussion relating to the form and content of legal judgments, delivered in the 2011 Judicial Studies Board Lecture “Open Justice Unbound“. Whilst agreeing with many of the points Lord Neuberger made, Wilson highlights the difficulties in making judgments comprehensible to members of the public. Click here to see Adam Wagner’s post on ‘open justice’ and the accessibility of the law, a theme which is developed by Lucy Series in The Small Places blog.

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Suing Facebook is no easy matter

9 November 2015 by Rosalind English

Richardson v Facebook [2015] EWHC 3154 (2 November 2015) – read judgment

An action in defamation and under the right to privacy against Facebook has been dismissed in the High Court. The Facebook entity named as defendant did not “control” the publication so as to allow liability; and even if it did, no claim under the Human Rights Act could lie against FB as it could not be described as any sort of a public authority for the purposes of Section 6 of the Act.

The claimant, acting as a litigant in person, sought damages in respect of the publication in 2013 and 2014 of a Facebook profile and a posting on the Google Blogger service. The Profile and the Blogpost each purported to have been created by the claimant, but she complained that each was a fake, created by an impostor. She claimed that each was defamatory of her, and infringed her right to respect for her private life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
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The Weekly Round Up: Ukraine, ARAP, SLAPPs and trans rights

16 March 2026 by Sascha Lavin

In the news

The UN Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine found that 1,205 children have been systematically deported and forcibly transferred from Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine to Russia. Of those cases, eight in ten children have not yet returned. According to the findings, Russian authorities have acted in contravention with international humanitarian law, under which evacuation can only be temporary and for the legally justifiable reasons of health, medical treatment or safety. 

The Courts and Tribunals Bill passed its second reading in the House of Commons last week. The Bill introduces a range of reforms aimed at reducing court backlogs, including proposals to restrict jury trials and raising magistrates’ sentencing powers. The House of Commons Public Bill Committee has issued a call for evidence from experts in fields relevant to the Bill.

The Netherlands and Iceland sought permission to intervene in the International Criminal Court (ICJ) case initiated by South Africa against Israel’s actions in Gaza. The ICJ had previously received 16 requests to intervene, including from Palestine, Ireland and Colombia.

[* note from editor: The United States and other countries have also filed declarations of intervention in South Africa’s case of genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice. Article 63 of the Statute of the Court allows countries to intervene in cases involving the interpretation of a convention to which they are parties, even if they are not parties to the dispute.

In its 11-page declaration the US rejected South Africa’s accusations of genocide against Israel.

“To avoid any doubt, the United States affirms, in the strongest terms possible, that the allegations of ‘genocide’ against Israel are false. They are also unfortunately nothing new,” it said.

The US said it considered it necessary to intervene in this case in order to offer its interpretations of the provisions of the Genocide Convention, informed by its role in drafting the 1948 text]

In the Courts:

On Wednesday, the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) launched an inquiry into the recent changes to laws relating to protest. The inquiry will examine whether the Government has correctly balanced its duty to protect the public from disruption or fear, with its duty to protect the right to protest – described by JCHR chair, Lord David Alton, as “a cornerstone of our democracy”.

In the courts

CHD, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for Defence

On Thursday, the High Court ruled that the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD’s) refusal of an Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) application was unlawful, on the grounds of an error of fact and a failure to publish related caseworker guidance. Although the MoD withdrew the decision shortly after the hearing, Saini J still handed down judgment, noting that the Court’s findings could affect other ARAP cases [1-2]. 

The judicial review challenge was brought by CHD, an Afghan national who was tortured by the Taliban and is currently in hiding in Afghanistan. For 13 years, until the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in 2021, CHD held a key public-facing role within a partly UK-funded organisation that promoted the rule of law and combatted the Taliban’s influence. 

CHD’s application to re-locate to the UK was rejected by the MoD on the grounds that he failed to meet Condition 2 Category 4 of ARAP, which requires applicants to have made, in the course of their employment, “a substantive and positive contribution to the UK’s military objectives or national security objectives (which includes counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics and anti-corruption objectives) with respect to Afghanistan” [15].

Saini J held that MoD decision makers had made an error of fact when determining that the objectives of CHD’s employer – the advancement of the rule of law and a functioning legal system – were not also part of the UK’s national security objectives at the time of CHD’s employment [75-77]. 

Saini J also noted that he would have been inclined to find the unpublished guidance and any decision made pursuant to it unlawful, had it been necessary to decide the issue [21]. Applying R (Lumba) v SSHD [2012] 1 AC 245, Saini J held that the MoD’s failure to publish interfered with the general rule of law that the publication of policies is necessary for applicants to make informed and meaningful representations [84]. 

What’s in store for judicial review?

9 March 2020 by Matthew Flinn

Tucked away on page 48 of the Conservative Party 2019 election manifesto, the following passage could be found in a section entitled “Protecting our Democracy”: 

After Brexit we also need to look at the broader aspects of our constitution: the relationship between the Government, Parliament and the courts; the functioning of the Royal Prerogative; the role of the House of Lords; and access to justice for ordinary people. The ability of our security services to defend us against terrorism and organised crime is critical. We will update the Human Rights Act and administrative law to ensure that there is a proper balance between the rights of individuals, our vital national security and effective government. We will ensure that judicial review is available to protect the rights of the individuals against an overbearing state, while ensuring that it is not abused to conduct politics by another means or to create needless delays. In our first year we will set up a Constitution, Democracy & Rights Commission that will examine these issues in depth, and come up with proposals to restore trust in our institutions and in how our democracy operates.

That is something of a laundry list of many of the most charged constitutional issues faced by the United Kingdom. But of all the matters cited, the one which has received perhaps the most attention of late is the Government’s apparent intention to consider changes to our system of judicial review. 

The Weekly Round-up: social care spending, Stafford statements and Ukraine’s legal battle

10 June 2022 by Lucy Stock

In the news:

• The recent Health and Care Act 2022 has come under scrutiny for introducing a cap on social care spending. From October 2023, the government will introduce a cap of £86,000 on the amount anyone in England will need to spend on their care over their lifetime. The cap will no longer count contributions from local authorities towards care costs. Disabled people living in the UK already spend an average of £583 a month in relation to their healthcare. The cap is much larger than the £35,000 recommended by the 2011 Dilnot Commission. There are concerns the cap breaches the Equality Act 2010 by discriminating against disabled people and other groups.

• In a report published on Tuesday 31 May, the Information Commissioner’s Office highlighted the need to reduce the requirements for complainants in rape and serious sexual offence cases to sign Stafford statements. These forms give officers consent to obtain often highly sensitive third-party materials, including medical, education and counselling records. They are said to be undermining trust and confidence in the criminal justice system. The report also called for police to stop assuming alleged rape victims have consented to searches of their phones and other devices.

• An impact assessment paper on the dangers of lifting restrictions on police stop and search powers, dated January 2022, was published on Tuesday. In the equality impact assessment, commissioned by the Home Office, officials warned that easing of conditions could damage community relations and lead to more people from minority ethnic backgrounds being targeted.

Care arrangements for severely autistic man did not deprive him of his liberty

26 June 2015 by Rosalind English

Bournemouth Borough Council v PS and another [2015] EWCOP (11 June 2015) – read judgment

Mostyn J in the Court of Protection was asked to determine whether care arrangements in place for a 28-year-old man (BS) with severe autism and who lacked capacity constituted a deprivation of his liberty. He concluded that the care arrangements in place were in his best interests and did not constitute a deprivation of his liberty under Article 5 of the ECHR. Although he was subject to observation and monitoring in his own home he was not under continuous supervision and he was afforded appreciable privacy; there were no locks on the doors and he was free to leave.

Interestingly, comments made in this case shows that judges, or some of them, do engage with what is being said about them in the blogosphere.
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Anorexia, alcoholism and the right to autonomy

22 October 2014 by Rosalind English

A NHS Foundation Trust v Ms X (By her litigation friend, the Official Solicitor), 8 October 2014  [2014] EWCOP 35 – read judgment

The issues that arose before the Court of Protection in this case encapsulate the difficulties involved in applying legal tools to the organic swamp of human pathology. Everything that one may envisage, for example, in planning a “living will” (or, more precisely, an Advance Decision under the Mental Capacity Act), may have no application at the critical time because the human body – or rather the way it falls apart – does not fit in to neat legal categories. In such a situation it is often the right to autonomy that is most at risk, since what you plan for your own medical and physiological future may not square with what the authorities you decide you were capable of planning. Cobb J’s sensitive and humane judgement in this sad case is a very encouraging sign that courts are beginning to resist the tyrannous claims of Article 2 and the obligation to preserve life at all costs.

Factual and legal background

Ms X, a young woman who lives alone in a private rented bed-sit, has suffered from anorexia nervosa for the last 14 years. She also suffers an alcohol dependence syndrome which has caused chronic and, by the time of this hearing, “end-stage” and irreversible liver disease, cirrhosis; this followed many years of abuse of alcohol. The combination of anorexia nervosa and alcohol dependence syndrome is unusual, and has always been medically acutely difficult to manage. This is a vicious cycle of self destructiveness and treatment, and as Cobb J observed,

The causes of her distress are multi-factorial but include the treatment for her anorexia itself and the removal of her personal autonomy when treated

So damaging had been the previous admissions for compulsory feeding, her doctors regarded it as “clinically inappropriate, counter-productive and increasingly unethical”  to cause her to be readmitted; their experience revealed that on each recent admission, she had been more and more unwell (as a result of her anxiety to reverse the weight gained in hospital during the previous visit, combined with renewed alcohol abuse).  In fact Ms X had been on an ‘end of life pathway’ twice in recent months and it was said that her physical condition “is now so fragile that her life is in imminent danger.”
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More secret trials? No thanks

31 January 2012 by Adam Wagner

A child learns early that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it. Thankfully that principle does not apply to Government consultations and this is aptly demonstrated by a group of responses to the consultation into whether “closed material” (secret evidence) procedures should be extended to civil trials.

Of the responses that I have read, there is very little support for the proposals as they stand and, as journalist Joshua Rozenberg has pointed out, the most damning criticism has come from the very lawyers who are currently involved in “closed” proceedings.

If you are interested in the issue, the Joint Committee on Human Rights is hearing evidence on it today from two special advocates, including my co-editor Angus McCullough QC (see his post on the topic), as well as the current and former independent reviewers of terrorism legislation. The session begins at 2:20pm and can be watched live here.

As I did with the Bill of Rights Commission consultation, I asked people to send me their consultation responses. What follows is a wholly unscientific summary of the ones I received:

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The Weekly Round-Up: Protest Rights, Hate Crime Laws in Scotland, & Drone Strikes on Gaza Aid Trucks

8 April 2024 by Catherine Churchill

In UK News

The new and wide-ranging Serious Disruption Prevention Orders (SDPOs) introduced by the Public Order Act 2023 came into force on Friday. As part of the Government’s attempt to ‘crack down’ on protesters ‘dedicated to wreaking havoc’, the police will now be able to apply to courts for an order to place restrictions on protesters’ locations, associations with others, online activity, and more. Breaching an order will be a criminal offence carrying up to six months’ imprisonment and an order can be made against anyone who has previously committed ‘protest-related offences’, including the many newly criminalised by the Public Order Act itself. Liberty have previously criticised SDPOs as an ‘unprecedented and highly draconian measure, which could amount to a ban on named individuals’ fundamental right to protest’.

Scotland’s new laws on hate crime came into force last Monday. The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act both consolidates existing hate crime offences and creates a new offence of  ‘threatening or abusive behaviour intended to stir up hatred’ on the basis of ‘age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and variations in sex characteristics’. A working group headed by Baroness Helena Kennedy KC has recommended that a separate offence be created to tackle misogynist abuse. Despite concerns about freedom of expression being raised by a variety of high profile online commentators, the Scottish Government have insisted the threshold for prosecution is very high with the act having multiple built in protections, including a ‘reasonableness’ defence. Some reports have suggested Police Scotland have already received up to 6000 complaints under the new law since Monday.

In Other News

Last Monday, drone strikes by the Israeli Defence Force killed seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers in the Gaza strip. Over a five minute period, three missiles struck three WCK vans delivering food to Northern Gaza despite previous coordination of the route with Israeli forces. Israel has admitted responsibility for the strikes and launched an investigation, reporting on Thursday that IDF forces had mistakenly believed the cars had been hijacked by Hamas militants and that drone operators were unable to see the WCK logo on the vans in the darkness. WCK has criticised the lack of accountability demonstrated by Israel’s response and has called for an independent inquiry. In related news, an open letter signed by UK judges and lawyers – including multiple former Supreme Court Justices – has called for the UK Government to end its supply of arms to Israel. The 17-page letter explains that the Government’s current position ‘falls significantly short’ of fulfilling its obligations under international law. The majority of British voters also believe the UK should cease their exports of arms to Israel, as revealed by a YouGov survey conducted last week.

The UN Human Rights Council passed a landmark resolution on Thursday to recognise and enhance the rights of intersex people. In a resolution proposed by Chile, Australia, Finland, and South Africa, the Council voted to call on Member States to ramp up protections offered towards intersex people against ‘discrimination, violence and harmful practices’. The resolution includes a provision requesting a report from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights ‘examining in detail discriminatory laws and policies, acts of violence and harmful practices against persons with innate variations in sex characteristics, in all regions of the world.’ Intersex people do not currently enjoy specific protection in the UK under the Equality Act 2010.

In the Courts

Uganda’s Constitutional Court declined last Wednesday to nullify the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act. Enacted last May, the law – which permits the death penalty for ‘aggravated homosexuality’ – has received international criticism for violating rights protected both by Uganda’s own constitution and by international treaties to which Uganda is a signatory. The Court did strike down particular provisions which it held to be ‘inconsistent with right to health, privacy and freedom of religion’; one such provision placed an obligation on all citizens to report anyone they suspected of engaging in homosexual activity, which was held to violate individual rights. Despite this, the judgment has been criticised by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, who revealed that ‘close to 600 people are reported to have been subjected to human rights violations and abuses based on their actual or imputed sexual orientation or gender identity since the Anti-Homosexuality Act was enacted in May last year’. He stated that the Act ‘must be repealed in its entirety, or unfortunately this number will only rise’. The LGBT+ activists behind the court case told Reuters that they intend to appeal to the Ugandan Supreme Court to seek a full annulment of the Act.

The European Court of Human Rights handed down a judgment last week finding that the lack of access to asylum to those arriving on Poland’s eastern borders meant that Poland was in breach of the ECHR. The case concerned a group of Tajik asylum seekers repeatedly turned away at the Ukrainian border crossing. During interviews with Polish border guards, the claimants stated they were seeking international protection from political persecution in Tajikistan, and that they were at danger of deportation in Ukraine. Their denial of access to the Polish asylum system and lack of an effective appeal process for the rejection at the border crossing violated Articles 3 (freedom from torture) and 13 (right to an effective remedy). A violation of Article 4 of Protocol 4 (prevention of collective expulsion of aliens) was also found, as the claimants successfully contended that the refusal of entry was on the basis of a wider policy to not accept asylum seekers at Polish border crossings.

A disproportionate interference: the Coronavirus Regulations and the ECHR — Francis Hoar

21 April 2020 by Guest Contributor

This is a summary of an article published here and inevitably simplifies the detailed arguments and considerations within it.  The article represents the views of the author alone.

Note: This article involves examination of the legal provisions that accompany the restrictions on movement of individuals announced by the Government. The current Government guidance setting out these and other restrictions can be found here. Legal scrutiny is important but should not be taken to question the requirement to follow the Regulations.

The ‘lockdown’ imposed by the government to contain the coronavirus and Covid 19, the disease it causes has been enforced mainly through the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 (‘the Regulations’), imposed under powers delegated by the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 (‘the 1984 Act’).

Recently Lord Anderson QC, Robert Craig, Tom Hickman QC and others and Benet Brandreth QC and Lord Sandhurst QC have argued that the Regulations were or may have been ultra vires as secondary legislation beyond the delegated powers under Pt 2A of the 1984 Act.  In turn, Prof Jeff King has argued that the delegated powers were exercised lawfully.  It is the view of the author that the arguments against the vires of the legislation on that ground are more convincing. 

This article argues that the Regulations are also a disproportionate interference with the rights protected by the European Convention on Human Rights (‘the Convention’); and that, were they challenged by judicial review, should be disapplied if necessary to avoid a breach of s 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998.

Abortion “pills by post”: approval of procedure not unlawful – Court of Appeal

21 October 2020 by Rosalind English

Christian Concern, R (On the Application of) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care [2020] EWCA Civ 1239 CA (King LJ, Nicola Davies LJ, Phillips LJ) 25/09/2020

The secretary of state had granted a temporary approval during the COVID-19 pandemic of “the home of a pregnant woman” as a class of places for the taking of Mifepristone, one of the two drugs required for a termination of pregnancy during the first 10 weeks. The appellants challenged this decision by way of judicial review, arguing, inter alia, that it was unlawful as being without the powers conferred by the Abortion Act 1967 (as amended).

Legal background

The 1967 Act sets out the legal framework under which abortions can be performed in England and Wales. Section 58 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 makes it a criminal offence to administer drugs or use instruments to procure an abortion. Section 59 of the same Act makes the supply of drugs, knowing that they are intended to be unlawfully used to procure the miscarriage of any woman, a criminal offence.

The Act excludes from criminal liability the termination of a pregnancy by a medical practitioner under certain circumstances including maximum term of twenty four weeks and risk to the woman. The Act also stipulates that treatment must be carried out in an approved place.

Information even unlawfully obtained is admissible to the GMC – Joanna Glynn QC

23 November 2014 by Guest Contributor

R (on the application of Nakash) v Metropolitan Police Service and General Medical Council [2014] EWHC 3810 (Admin) – read judgment

The High Court has ruled that although information obtained unlawfully by the police is admissible in regulatory proceedings (even if not in criminal proceedings), it  “carries little weight” in the assessment of competing interests required by Article 8(2). 

The General Medical Council [“GMC”] has wide powers under section 35A Medical Act 1983 to require disclosure of information which appears relevant to the discharge of the Council’s statutory functions in respect of a practitioner’s fitness to practise.

Where the police are in possession of confidential material that they are reasonably persuaded is of some relevance to an investigation being conducted by the GMC, a doctor’s rights under Article 8 of the ECHR are not breached by the police disclosing that information, even where it was unlawfully obtained. However, the police must undertake the careful scrutiny and balancing exercise required by Article 8 before the decision as to disclosure is made.
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Leveson Lands, Cameras in Court and Secret Courts – The Human Rights Roundup

3 December 2012 by Sam Murrant

Welcome back to the UK Human Rights Roundup, your weekly smorgasbord of human rights news. The full list of links can be found here. You can also find our table of human rights cases here and previous roundups here.

A bumper edition this week, mostly thanks to Lord Justice Leveson and his long-awaited report, released this week to a tumult of online commentary. In overshadowed, but potentially no less significant news, the House of Lords approved amendments to the “secret courts” Justice and Security Bill; the Joint Committee on Human Rights reported on the Crime and Courts Bill, and we have another round of arguments for and against the UK’s continuing association with the European Court of Human Rights.

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Judicial Review Concessions, Gay Olympic Controversy, and Defamation in Europe – the Human Rights Roundup

10 February 2014 by Celia Rooney

Welcome back to the UK Human Rights Roundup, your regular sporting extravaganza of human rights news and views. The full list of links can be found here.  You can find previous roundups here. Links compiled by Adam Wagner, post by Celia Rooney. 

Last week, the Justice Secretary published the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill.  The implications of his revised proposals for judicial review reform are considered in this week’s roundup, along with controversy over gay rights at the Winter Olympics and recent trends in defamation cases before the Court of Human Rights.

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