UK: High Court rules criminal deportees to the DRC, but not simply failed asylum seekers, are at risk of Article 3 ill-treatment solely by virtue of their status

Date: 
Sunday, December 15, 2013

In the High Court judgment of P (DRC), R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2013] EWHC 3879 (Admin), delivered on 9 December 2013, the Applicant, a DRC national, was a failed asylum seeker whose criminal convictions in the UK made him liable for deportation to the DRC. The questions before the court were (a) whether to overturn previous country guidance which required that in the case of failed asylum seekers, no Article 3 risk arises except for those having or perceived to have a military or political profile in opposition to the DRC government, and (b) whether criminal deportees per se do face such a risk.

As to (a), the court held that the previous country guidance should still be followed, on the basis of a 2012 UKBA Country Policy Bulletin, an Intergovernmental Consultation on Migration, Asylum and Refugees involving 11 states, the UN, Amnesty and Human Rights Watch, the reports of three European embassies in Kinshasa and the recent decision of the High Court of Ireland in PBN (DR Congo) v. Minister for Justice Equality and Law Reform [2013] IEHC 435.All of these sources indicated that returnees face no risk of ill-treatment unless they are perceived to be opponents of the DRC government.

As to (b), the court was satisfied that criminal deportees, simply by virtue of their status, face a real risk of Article 3 ill-treatment. This is because, if identified as such by DRC authorities, as is likely in the circumstances, criminal deportees will be automatically detained on arrival for an indeterminate period in what have been established as Article 3 non-compliant detention conditions.

Read the full judgment of the High Court.


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Keywords: 
Inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
Tags: 
UK
Democratic Republic of Congo