European Court of Human Rights president hits back at the UK Government’s vows to ignore injunctions against Rwanda deportation flights

Evening Standard

European Court of Human Rights president Síofra O’Leary has hit back at the UK Government’s vows to ignore any injunctions from the court against Rwanda deportation flights, sparking a row with Downing Street.

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00:00 generally and in relation to the court's existing case law.

00:04 There is a clear legal obligation under the Convention for states to comply with Rule 39 measures.

00:11 The legal basis for this is principally Article 34 of the Convention,

00:15 the effect of protection of the right to individual application,

00:20 to which one could add for the lawyers in the room or online, Articles 1, 19 and 32 of the Convention.

00:28 The Court issues interim measures, as I indicated in my speech,

00:32 in exceptional circumstances where there is a real and imminent risk of irreparable harm.

00:37 In the past, and you can consult our HUDOC database for examples of this,

00:41 where states have in the past failed to comply with Rule 39 indications,

00:46 the Grand Chamber or chambers or committees of three judges have found that the states have violated their obligations

00:53 under Article 34 of the Convention.

00:56 Just last year, there was a case of this nature against the Russian Federation,

01:00 where the Court found a violation of Article 34.

01:03 In relation to the UK, I should state that it has always complied with Rule 39 measures,

01:10 going all the way back to the old Commission in the 1950s and stays of execution.

01:15 In only one case, to my knowledge, a case called Al-Sadun, did the UK fail to comply

01:21 and a violation of Article 34 was found,

01:23 but the factual circumstances of that case were very particular.

01:27 It might also be interesting for your correspondents to know that the UK has also publicly declared the need

01:34 for other states to comply with Rule 39 indications.

01:38 The most recent example of this was in 2021,

01:41 when the UK urged the Russian Federation to comply with the Court's Rule 39 measure adopted

01:47 in relation to the release of Alexei Navalny.

01:51 Another point which I think is important is to emphasise that Rule 39 measures also benefit UK citizens.

01:59 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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