The Court of Appeal has unanimously ruled that Theresa May, in her capacity as Home Secretary, acted unlawfully by refusing to grant entry to the UK to six families of recognised refugees, stranded at the Sovereign British Bases (SBA) in Cyprus since 1998 in unacceptable living conditions.
The Claimants have maintained that the UK is legally responsible for them under the Refugee Convention. The UK Government denied it had any such legal responsibility. It argued that the Refugee Convention was never extended to the SBA and consequently the affected families have no grounds on which to seek resettlement in the UK. The Court of Appeal ruled against the UK Government, holding that the Refugee Convention does apply directly to the SBA because of an extension of the Refugee Convention to the UK colony of Cyprus in 1956. For further information, please see here.
Raza Husain QC and Edward Craven were involved in this case.
For more detailed information about the judgment, please click here.