Case summaries
UK - House of Lords, 2 April 1998, Secretary of State for the Home Department, Ex parte Adan, [1998] UKHL 15
Country of applicant:
Somalia
A person who leaves his own country because of a well-founded fear of being persecuted for a Convention reason and later is unable, or, owing to that fear is unwilling, to avail himself of that country's protection even when the grounds for his fear have gone, does not have the status of a refugee.
In addition, in a State where there is a civil war when law and order has broken down and every group is fighting one another for political power then, to be entitled to refugee status, a group or individual the individual or group has to show a well-founded fear of persecution over and above the risk to life and liberty inherent in the civil war.
Date of decision:
02-04-1998
ECtHR - Vilvarajah and others v. The United Kingdom, Application Nos. 13163/87, 13164/87, 13165/87, 13447/87, 13448/87, 30 October 1991
Country of applicant:
Sri Lanka
Keywords:
Effective remedy (right to), Indiscriminate violence, Inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Persecution (acts of), Persecution Grounds/Reasons, Torture, Return
The five applicants were asylum seekers from Sri Lanka of Tamil ethnicity whose requests were denied in the UK and had been returned to Sri Lanka. The Court rejected their allegations that a breach of Art. 3 due to risk of ill-treatment as well as of a breach of Art. 13 because of ineffective judicial remedy had been committed by the UK.
Date of decision:
30-10-1991