United Kingdom: Rejected asylum application referred back to Upper Tribunal in PK (Ukraine) v Secretary of State

Date: 
Tuesday, October 22, 2019

On 22 October 2019, the Court of Appeal (Civil Division) published its ruling on a case concerning the rejected asylum application of a Ukrainian national.

The applicant and his wife were arrested in 2014 after arriving in the UK clandestinely in December 2013. Shortly after, the applicant made an application for asylum on the grounds that he evaded draft from the Ukrainian army in 2016 and 2017 due to the army’s association with breaches of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). The applicant therefore submitted that there was a real risk of ill treatment and persecution if he were to return to the Ukraine.

The applicant argued that the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) had erred in its assessment of the applicant’s submission that he did not want to be associated with the IHL breaches of the Ukrainian army and had failed to consider the risk of pre-trial detention. The Upper Tribunal (UP) rejected this appeal after concluding that it was unlikely the applicant would face a penalty or prosecution upon return.

The Court of Appeal noted that both the FTT and UP had erred in considering potential punishment for draft evasion and had failed to engage with background documentation relating to information concerning the alleged breaches of IHL. It added that the UP had contradicted the findings of the FTT by suggesting the applicant would not face prosecution upon return without providing reasoning for this conclusion. As a result, the Court of Appeal ruled that the case had received insufficient analysis and must be reassessed by the UP.


This item was reproduced with the permission of ECRE from the ELENA Weekly Legal Update. The purpose of these updates is to inform asylum lawyers and legal organizations supporting asylum seekers and refugees of recent developments in the field of asylum law. Please note that the information provided is taken from publicly available information on the internet. Every reasonable effort is made to make the content accurate and up to date at the time each item is pusexblished but no responsibility for its accuracy and correctness, or for any consequences of relying on it, is assumed by ECRE.

 

 

Keywords: 
Assessment of facts and circumstances
Country of origin
Individual assessment