Friday 16 September 2016

UK Authorities Fail To Honour "Due Diligence" In Deportation Proceedings

A report from the UK Human Rights Blog indicates that the European Court of Human Rights argued that part of an individual's detention pending deportation violated the right to liberty.
In its blog, it published the full background of the case.



An applicant with the initials 'VM', entered the United Kingdom illegally on November 18, 2003 with her son. The applicant came from Nigeria. When an interim care order had her charged of child cruelty, she pleaded guilty to avoid deportation to Nigeria.

Following her personal bail, she was once again arrested in September 2007 due to possession of false documentation with the intent to commit fraud. She was imprisoned for 9 months and was convicted of child cruelty charges in 2008 of April.

She was in detention for the rest of her sentence from August 2008. Pending deportation, she lodged a judicial review claim to review the lawfulness of her continuing detention. Hearings took place from July to August 2010 with her claims dismissed.

Having granted permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal, the Secretary of State conceded that her detention was unlawful from August 2008 to April 2010.

Reaching the Strasbourg Court, the violation was found as she was detained unlawfully because the authorities had failed to consider if the relevant policies were sufficient.