Court Action to End HIV Immigration Detention
posted: 31/08/2010
The campaign to end the locking up of people with HIV in Immigration Detention centres, like Yarls Wood, is now moving to the Court of Appeal.
This follows a judge’s decision to turn down three test cases heard at the High Court.
The Judge decided that the Home Secretary's policy that people who are "suffering from a serious medical condition" should not be in immigration detention except for very exceptional cases does not normally apply to people living with HIV. In particular, the judge decided that whilst HIV is a serious medical condition, the three HIV+ claimants were not "suffering", because their HIV treatment was working well enough.
Detained almost three years
One of the three people has now been in immigration detention for close to three years, (since October 2007) and the other two, since November 2008 and August 2009.
The court summed up their case like this:
"Each of the three claimants is HIV positive. They have been subject to immigration detention. The length of detention in each of their cases is different. For each, the stage of their illness and the degree of symptoms associated with it has varied over time. What is common to each ... is that the management of their condition has been adversely affected by their detention and by the management failings by the Secretary of State and those operating immigration detention on her behalf. The effect of this ... has been to put their health in jeopardy in ways that could have serious long term consequences for their ability to survive in the United Kingdom or in their home countries when or if they are removed."
Judgement
The judge decided aginst the three people. "It almost goes without saying that the liberty of persons is jealously guarded by the courts. Thus, the courts will scrutinise closely immigration detention to ensure that it is in accordance with the legislative purpose and that, generally speaking, the Secretary of State complies punctiliously with her policy on the matter.
“At some point, the treatment of those with HIV status in immigration detention may be sufficiently mis-managed so that the person suffers and falls within paragraph 55.10 of the Enforcement and Immigration Guidance. That mis-management might also constitute a breach of ‘Hardial Singh’ principles, ….. , or of the standards laid down by the Strasbourg Court. In my view, however, on the facts of these cases those standards were not breached in relation to any of these claimants."
All three people are disappointed with the ruling and have told their solicitor to appeal the decision in the Appeal Court. The case is not likely to be considered by the Appeal Court for months.
The case is being dealt with by Louise Whitfield and Gareth Mitchell in PierceGlynn’s Public Law and Human Rights team.
Full High Court judgement is here
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