Removal policy breaches common law right of access to a court

Author Colin Yeo on Free Movement blog. Could we use this in the Dutch practise as well where a VOVO is supposed to work only when a date is known and where people sometimes are deported from detention before their case is heard.

Hot on the heels of this summer’s confected controversy over last minute legal challenges to removals of asylum seekers, the Court of Appeal has ruled that the Home Office’s ‘removal window’ policy is unlawful because it denies the common law right of access to a court. In a timely reminder to ministers and officials, the Court held that ‘the right of access to a court is an absolute and inviolable right’ which ‘is not a relative right to be balanced against other rights and interests, the convenience of the executive or the courts, or the risks of abuse of process.’

Some may bridle at the idea of migrants being entitled to legal protections. It was exactly that sort of thinking which led to the denial of the rights of the Windrush generation, who were wrongly alleged to be unlawfully resident and denied an effective right of challenge. Home Office officials are not always right and it is vital to have proper, independent safeguards in place to reveal the mistakes they sometimes make.

The case is R (FB (Afghanistan)) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWCA Civ 1338 and the leading judgment is given by Lord Justice Hickinbottom with agreement from Coulson LJ and the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett.

What is a ‘removal window’?

Under the policy of ‘removal windows’ a person facing removal from the UK is not told a specific date on which they will be removed but instead given a range of dates of up to three months. This range of dates is the so-called ‘window’ during which they may be removed. The person is given at least 72 hours’ notice of the start of the period but once the period begins the person might be removed at any time with no further notice. The idea is that a person who has a legal case against removal will be encouraged to bring that case as soon as possible rather than waiting until the last minute – because the person does not know when the last minute might be.

Please continue on the original blog here: https://www.freemovement.org.uk/removal-policy-breaches-common-law-right-of-access-to-a-court/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=removal-policy-breaches-common-law-right-of-access-to-a-court&utm_source=Free+Movement&utm_campaign=0c54e5e03e-Daily+emails+everything&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_792133aa40-0c54e5e03e-116334469&mc_cid=0c54e5e03e&mc_eid=b72b4a153a

 

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