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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom House of Lords Decisions >> Bugdaycay v Secretary of State for the Home Department [1986] UKHL 3 (19 February 1986) URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/1986/3.html Cite as: [1986] UKHL 3, [1987] AC 514 |
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Parliamentary
Archives,
HL/PO/JU/18/247
Bugdaycay (A.P.) (Appellant)
v.
Secretary of State for
the Home Department (Respondent)
Nelidow-Santis (A.P.) (Appellant)
v.
Secretary of State for
the Home Department (Respondent)
Norman (A.P) (Appellant)
v.
Secretary of State for
the Home Department (Respondent)
[Consolidated Appeals]
JUDGMENT
Die Jovis 19° Februarii 1987
Upon Report from the Appellate Committee to
whom was
referred the Cause Bugdaycay (A.P.) against Secretary of
State
for the Home Department, Nelidow-Santis (A.P.)
against
Secretary of State for the Home Department, Norman
(A.P.)
against Secretary of State for the Home Department* That
the
Committee had heard Counsel on Monday the 10th, Tuesday
the
11th and Thursday the 13th days of November 1986 upon
the
Petitions and Appeals of Huseyin Bugdaycay, of 14 Highbury
New
Park, London N5, Michael Nelidow-Santis, of 69
Arlington
Lodge, Baytree Road, Brixton Hill, London SW2, and
Daniel
Tawiah Norman, of 77 Bucks Road, Harlesden, London
NW10,
praying that the matter of the Orders set forth in
the
Schedules thereto, namely Orders of Her Majesty's Court
of
Appeal of 5th November 1985, might be reviewed before
Her
Majesty the Queen in Her Court of Parliament and that the
said
Orders might be reversed, varied or altered or that
the
Petitioners might have such other relief in the premises as
to
Her Majesty the Queen in Her Court of Parliament might
seem
meet (which said Appeals were by an Order of the House
of
22nd May 1986 consolidated); as upon the Case of the
Secretary
of State for the Home Department lodged in answer to the
said
Appeals; and due consideration had this day of what
was
offered on either side in this Cause:
It is Ordered and Adjudged, by
the Lords Spiritual and
Temporal in the Court of Parliament of Her
Majesty the Queen
assembled, That the said Orders of Her Majesty's
Court of
Appeal (Civil Division) of 5th November 1985 complained
of in
the said Appeals be, and the same are hereby, Affirmed
and
that the said Petitions and Appeals be, and the same
are
hereby, dismissed this House: And it is further Ordered,
That
the costs of the Appellants be taxed in accordance
with
Schedule 2 to the Legal Aid Act 1974.
Cler: Parliamentor:
Judgment;
19.2.87
HOUSE OP LORDS
BUGDACAY
(A.P.)
(APPELLANT)
v.
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT
(RESPONDENT)
NELIDOW-SANTIS
(A.P.)
(APPELLANT)
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT
(RESPONDENT)
NORMAN
(A.P.)
(APPELLANT)
v.
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT
(RESPONDENT)
CONSOLIDATED APPEALS
IN RE MUSISI (A.P.)
Lord Bridge of Harwich
Lord
Brandon of Oakbrook
Lord Templeman
Lord Griffiths
Lord Goff
of Chieveley
LORD BRIDGE OF HARWICH
My Lords,
These four appeals were heard
together by consent of all
parties. All are concerned with
questions as to the treatment in
domestic law of those who claim
to be refugees under the Geneva
Convention (1951) and Protocol
(1957) relating to the Status of
Refugees ("the Convention").
The background material in the
Immigration Act 1971 ("the
Act"), the rules made thereunder and
the Convention itself is
common to all four appeals. The issues
which arise in the first
three appeals are identical. The issues
raised in the appeal of
Musisi overlap to some extent with the
issues in the first three
appeals. The appeal of Musisi, however,
raises difficult and
entirely distinct issues which will require
examination in some
detail of the facts peculiar to that case. At
- 1 -
the outset it will be convenient
to give a brief outline of the
facts so far as necessary for the
proper examination of the
common issues.
The first three appellants
separately obtained leave to enter
the United Kingdom under the
Act. Bugdaycay was granted leave
to enter as a student, Santis as
a holiday visitor, Norman as a
business visitor. In due course
each claimed to be entitled to
asylum in this country as a refugee
from his country of origin.
The claim in the case of Santis was
made before the expiry of his
temporary leave to enter, but the
other two only made their
claims after the expiry of their leave
to enter and after they had
been arrested as overstayers. The
Secretary of State refused each
of the claims to asylum and
directions were given in each case for
the removal of the
appellant as an illegal entrant pursuant to
paragraph 9 of
Schedule 2 to the Act. Each applied for judicial
review. The
applications of Bugdaycay and Santis were refused by
Taylor J.,
that of Norman by Woolf J. Their appeals were heard
together by
the Court of Appeal (Oliver, Neill and Balcombe L.JJ)
and
dismissed. A fuller account of the facts which I have very
briefly
summarised will be found in the judgment of Neill L.J.
[1986] 1
W.L.R. 155, 157-158. The appellants now appeal by leave
of your
Lordships' House.
The appellant Musisi applied for
leave to enter as a visitor
from Kenya. Pending a decision upon
that application he was
temporarily admitted to the United Kingdom
pursuant to paragraph
21 of Schedule 2 to the Act. His application
for leave to enter
was refused, but he thereupon immediately
applied for asylum as a
refugee from Uganda. His temporary
admission was extended
indefinitely pending consideration of that
application. I shall later
have to examine the history of his case
in detail but at this stage
it suffices to say that a final
decision was made refusing him
leave to enter and directions were
given for his removal and
return to Kenya in January 1984. His
application for judicial
review was refused by Mann J. and his
appeal against that refusal
was dismissed by the Court of Appeal
(Watkins, Purchas and Dillon
L.JJ). He too now appeals by leave of
your Lordships' House.
This is the first time your
Lordships' House has had to
consider the Convention. The questions
arising from its impact on
domestic law are of undoubted
importance both to those claiming
refugee status and to the
authorities responsible for the operation
of the system for the
control of immigration established by the
Act and rules made
thereunder.
The relevant definition of
"refugee" in the Convention is
"any person who . .
. owing to well-founded fear of being
persecuted for reasons of
race, religion, nationality, membership of
a particular social
group or political opinion, is outside the country
of his
nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling
to
avail himself of the protection of that country." The
provisions
in the Convention of primary importance are the
following:
"Article 32
1. The contracting states shall
not expel a refugee lawfully
in their territory save on grounds of
national security or
public order."
- 2 -
"Article 33
1. No contracting state shall
expel or return ('refouler') a
refugee in any manner whatsoever to
the frontiers of
territories where his life or freedom would be
threatened on
account of his race, religion, nationality,
membership of a
particular social group or political opinion."
The relevant rules laid down by
the Secretary of State
pursuant to section 3(2) of the Act "as
to the practice to be
followed in the administration of this Act
for regulating the entry
into and stay in the United Kingdom of
persons required by this
Act to have leave to enter" are
found in the Statement of
Changes in Immigration Rules (1983)
(HC169). The rules are
divided into two sections: Section One,
Control on Entry; Section
Two, Control after Entry. Paragraph 16
in Section One and
paragraph 96 in Section Two, each headed
"Refugees," are in
identical terms as follows:
"Where a person is a refugee
full account is to be taken of
the provisions of the Convention
and Protocol relating to
the Status of Refugees (Cmd. 9171 and
Cmnd. 3096).
Nothing in these rules is to be construed as
requiring action
contrary to the United Kingdom's obligations
under these
instruments."
The paragraphs headed "Asylum"
in Sections One and Two
are respectively paragraphs 73 and 134 and
provide as follows:
"73. Special considerations
arise where the only country to
which a person could be removed is
one to which he is
unwilling to go owing to well-founded fear of
being
persecuted for reasons of race, religion,
nationality,
membership of a particular social group or political
opinion.
Any case in which it appears to the immigration officer
as
a result of a claim or information given by the person
seeking
entry at a port that he might fall within the terms
of this
provision is to be referred to the Home Office for
decision
regardless of any grounds set out in any provision
of these rules
which may appear to justify refusal of leave
to enter. Leave to
enter will not be refused if removal
would be contrary to the
provisions of the Convention and
Protocol relating to the Status
of Refugees.
134. A person may apply for asylum
in the United Kingdom
on the ground that, if he were required to
leave, he would
have to go to a country to which he is unwilling
to go
owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for
reasons
of race, religion, nationality, membership of a
particular
social group or political opinion. Any such claim is to
be
carefully considered in the light of ail the
relevant
circumstances."
The primary submission made on
behalf of the first three
appellants is that the immigration rules
prohibit their removal and
return to their own countries whence
they came unless and until
the courts have adjudicated upon and
rejected their claim to be
refugees from those countries. The
argument proceeds by stages.
Each claims to be a refugee from the
country of his nationality.
- 3 -
To return him to that country,
therefore, would contravene Article
33.1 of the Convention.
Paragraph 73 of HC169 prohibits removal
contrary to the provisions
of the Convention. It follows, so it is
said, that the Secretary
of State cannot give himself power to
make a decision leading to a
person's removal contrary to the
rules by finding as a fact that
he is not a refugee, if in truth he
is. The conclusion, it is
submitted, is that, if the Secretary of
State has purported to
make such a decision, the court, on an
application for judicial
review, is not confined to considering
whether there was evidence
to support the decision of the
Secretary of State, but must
examine the evidence and make its
own decision. Only if the court
is satisfied on a balance of
probabilities that the person
claiming asylum is not a refugee, can
the decision to
remove him to his country of origin be affirmed.
This line of reasoning is said to
be supported by analogy by
the decision in Reg. v. Secretary of
State for the Home
Department, Ex parte Khawaja [1984] AC 74
that when directions
given pursuant to paragraph 9 of Schedule 2
to the Act for the
removal of an illegal entrant are challenged on
an application for
judicial review, it is for the immigration
officer or the Secretary
of State, as the case may be, to
establish the fact of illegal
entry.
The reason why this argument
cannot be sustained is that
all questions of fact on which the
discretionary decision whether
to grant or withhold leave to enter
or remain depends must
necessarily be determined by the
immigration officer or the
Secretary of State in the exercise of
the discretion which is
exclusively conferred upon them by section
4(1) of the Act. The
question whether an applicant for leave to
enter or remain is or is
not a refugee is only one, even if a
particularly important one
required by paragraph 73 of HC169 to be
referred to the Home
Office, of a multiplicity of questions which
immigration officers
and officials of the Home Office acting for
the Secretary of State
must daily determine in dealing with
applications for leave to
enter or remain in accordance with the
rules, as, for example,
whether an applicant is a bona fide
visitor, student, businessman,
dependant etc. Determination of
such questions is only open to
challenge in the courts on well
known Wednesbury principles.
There is no ground for
treating the question raised by a claim to
refugee status as an
exception to this rule. For the reasons
explained at length in the
speeches in the case of Khawaja the
court's fundamentally
different approach to an order for removal
on the ground of
illegal entry is dictated by the terms of the
statute itself,
since the power to direct removal under paragraph 9
of Schedule 2
is only available in the case of a person who is in
fact an
"illegal entrant."
All four appellants next submit
that before their claims to
asylum as refugees can be finally
refused and before they can be
required to leave this country they
are entitled, by one route or
another, to appeal to the appellate
authorities under Part II of the
Act. Section 13(1) gives a right
of appeal to an applicant against
refusal of leave to enter, but
section 13 prevents its exercise,
subject to exceptions not
presently relevant, so long as the
intending appellant is in the
United Kingdom. Section 14(1) gives
a right of appeal to a person
who has a limited leave to enter or
remain against refusal to vary
that leave. Section 15 gives a
- 4 -
right of appeal against a decision
of the Secretary of State to
make a deportation order. Section 17
gives a right of appeal
against directions for a person's removal
to a particular country on
the ground that "he ought to be
removed (if at all) to a different
country or territory specified
by him." At one time Mr. Collins,
for Musisi, presented an
ingenious argument that section 17 gives
to a person claiming
asylum who objects to removal to the country
named in the
directions appealed against, but can specify no other,
an
effective opportunity to appeal while still in the United
Kingdom
even though he has been refused leave to enter. A
careful reading
of section 17(5), however, shows, as Mr. Collins in
due course
accepted, that, in the case of a person refused leave
to enter, an
appeal against removal directions lies only in three
exceptional
cases, none of which is applicable to Musisi.
A further argument advanced in the
written case for Musisi,
of which Mr. Collins was not the author,
but which he did not feel
he could properly abandon, was that the
necessary reference to the
Home Office for decision pursuant to
paragraph 73 of HC169 of a
claim to asylum should be taken as the
grant, by implication, of
temporary leave to enter, giving the
person claiming asylum a
right of appeal under section 14(1)
against a refusal to extend that
leave. This is, however, wholly
inconsistent with the language of
the concluding sentence of
paragraph 73: "Leave to enter will not
be refused etc."
The main argument on this aspect
of the case was advanced
on behalf of the first three appellants
by Mr. Beloff. He draws
attention to Article 35 of the Convention,
whereby "contracting
states undertake to co-operate with the
Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ... in
the exercise of
its functions." The Office of the United
Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (U.N.H.C.R.) published in
1979 a
"Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining
Refugee
Status." From paragraph 192 of that publication we
learn that in
1977 the Executive Committee of the High
Commissioner's
Programme recommended that the procedures to be
adopted by
states adhering to the Convention for determination of
applications
for refugee status should satisfy certain basic
requirements. The
relevant recommendations read as follows:
"(iii) There should be a
clearly identified authority -
wherever possible a single central
authority - with
responsibility for examining requests for refugee
status and
taking a decision in the first instance.
(vi) If the applicant is not
recognised, he should be given
a reasonable time to appeal for a
formal reconsideration of
the decision, either to the same or to a
different authority,
whether administrative or judicial, according
to the
prevailing system.
(vii) The applicant should be
permitted to remain in the
country pending a decision on his
initial request by the
competent authority referred to in
paragraph (iii) above,
unless it has been established by that
authority that his
request is clearly abusive. He should also be
permitted to
remain in the country while an appeal to a
higher
administrative authority or to the courts is pending."
- 5 -
It is submitted that the basic
requirements set out in
paragraphs (vi) and (vii) can only be
satisfied if an unsuccessful
applicant is accorded a right of
"appeal . . . according to the
prevailing system," which
in the United Kingdom must mean an
appeal to the appellate
authorities under Part II of the Act,
exercisable before he is
required to leave the country. Removal
of the appellants as
illegal entrants would deprive them of any
such right of appeal.
On the other hand the alternative course of
making deportation
orders in the case of Bugdaycay and Norman
and simply refusing to
extend leave to remain in the case of
Santis, would have opened an
avenue of appeal in each case in
which the decision of the
Secretary of State could have been
challenged. In deciding to
proceed against them as illegal entrants
and neglecting the
alternative, the Secretary of State, it is
submitted, must have
failed to have regard to the
recommendations of the Executive
Committee of the High
Commissioner's Programme.
My Lords, there was some
discussion in the courts below of
the question whether the
practice of the Home Office complied
with recommendation (vi). I
express no opinion on that question,
since it is, as it seems to
me, neither necessary nor desirable that
this House should attempt
to interpret an instrument of this
character which is of no
binding force either in municipal or
international law.
The fact that the first three
appellants are proposed to be
removed summarily as illegal
entrants obscures the true implication
of the argument advanced by
Mr. Beloff on their behalf. If the
effect of the 1977
recommendations were to require the Secretary
of State to treat
every applicant for refugee status in such a way
as to enable the
application, if initially unsuccessful, to be tested
by way of an
appeal under Part II of the Act while the appellant
remained in
the United Kingdom, this would apply not only to
those who had
secured entry illegally, but to every applicant for
refugee status
who, on arrival in this country, was refused leave
to enter. The
result would then be that the Secretary of State's
duty to act in
conformity with the obligation of the United
Kingdom under the
Convention to co-operate with the Office of
the U.N.H.C.R. and to
have regard to the recommendations made
by the Executive Committee
in 1977 would override the express
terms of section 13(3) of the
Act, which prohibits an appeal
against refusal of leave to enter
so long as the intending appellant
is in the United Kingdom. This
is plainly untenable. It is equally
plain that a person who has
secured entry illegally can be in no
better position in this
regard than a person refused leave to enter.
Mr. Beloff's argument
must therefore be rejected.
The first three appellants finally
challenge the decision to
remove them summarily by direction under
paragraph 9 of Schedule
2 on the ground that they are not illegal
entrants. It is common
ground that each committed an offence under
section 26(l)(c) by
misrepresenting to an immigration
officer on arrival in this country
the true nature and purpose of
his visit. It is submitted, however,
that the misrepresentations
were not material, since the appellants
would not necessarily have
been refused leave to enter if they had
originally claimed to
enter as refugees.
- 6 -
After setting out the argument and
the citations from
authority on which this submission relies for
support, Neill L.J.
disposed of it in the following paragraphs,
[1986] 1 W.L.R. 155,
160-161:
"In my judgment it is
impermissible to extend the concept
of material facts so as to
allow an intending entrant to
seek leave to enter for a particular
purpose on the basis of
a statement of particular facts and then
later, on admitting
that the purpose had been misrepresented and
the facts had
been misstated, to contend he was not an illegal
entrant
because if he had told a different story and had put
forward
a different reason for his visit he might well have
been
given leave.
The question whether facts are
material or decisive has to
be answered in the context of the
leave which was in fact
given. The Act of 1971 makes this clear.
Thus the
appellants were seeking to enter the United Kingdom
by
making statements or making representations to the
immigration
officers which they knew to be false or did not
believe to be
true. The misstatements or misrepresentations
were not on matters
of detail but constituted versions of
the appellants' intentions
which were in fundamental
respects at variance with the truth. The
decisions that
these appellants were illegal entrants appears to
me to be
unassailable."
I cannot improve on this reasoning
with which I agree and which I
gratefully adopt.
I would, therefore, dismiss the first three appeals.
The case of Musisi raises first a
distinct issue of law. The
decision to refuse him leave to enter
was not based on the denial
of his claim to refugee status quoad
Uganda, which is the country
of his nationality, but on a
conclusion by the Secretary of State
that, even if he is properly
to be treated as a refugee from
Uganda, within the definition of
"refugee" under the Convention,
this presents no
obstacle to his return to Kenya whence he came
to this country.
The primary submission made by Mr. Collins on
his behalf is that,
if he is a refugee, as is to be assumed, he is
protected not only
by Article 33.1 of the Convention against
return to the country
where he fears persecution, but also by
Article 32.1 against
return to any other country because he is now
"lawfully in
[the] territory" of the United Kingdom and cannot,
therefore,
be expelled save on grounds of national security or
public order.
The temporary admission pursuant to paragraph 21
of Schedule 2 to
the Act of an applicant for leave to enter
pending a decision on
his application has the effect, it is
submitted, of making the
applicant's presence in the United
Kingdom lawful for the purpose
of his entitlement to the
protection of Article 32.1 of the
Convention.
Section 11(1) of the Act provides:
"A person arriving in the
United Kingdom by ship or aircraft
shall for purposes of this Act
be deemed not to enter the
United Kingdom unless and until he
disembarks, and on
- 7 -
disembarkation at a port shall
further be deemed not to
enter the United Kingdom so long as he
remains in such
area (if any) at the port as may be approved for
this
purpose by an immigration officer; and a person who has
not
otherwise entered the United Kingdom shall be deemed not
to
do so as long as he is detained, or temporarily admitted
or
released while liable to detention, under the powers
conferred by
Schedule 2 to this Act."
*
Mr. Collins was constrained to
concede that, if his argument
is right, it must apply equally to
any person arriving in this
country at a regular port of entry and
presenting himself to the
immigration authorities, whether he is
detained or temporarily
admitted pending a decision on his
application for leave to enter.
It follows that the effect of the
submission, if it is well-founded,
is to confer on any person who
can establish that he has the
status of a refugee from the country
of his nationality, but who
arrives in the United Kingdom from a
third country, an
indefeasible right to remain here, since to
refuse him leave to
enter and direct his return to the third
country will involve the
United Kingdom in the expulsion of "a
refugee lawfully in their
territory" contrary to Article
32.1.
The United Kingdom was already a
party to the Convention
when the Act was passed and it would, to
my mind, be very
surprising if it had the effect contended for.
But I am satisfied
that the deeming provision enacted by section
11(1) makes Mr.
Collin's submission on this point quite untenable.
My Lords, I now turn to the most
difficult issue, which
arises from the unusual facts in the case
of Musisi. The question
is whether there is any available ground
on which the discretionary
administrative decision to remove the
appellant to Kenya can
properly be challenged in judicial review
proceedings. Not the
least surprising feature of the case is that
this question was raised
for the first time in your Lordships'
House. The different counsel
who appeared for the appellant in the
courts below advanced only
a single argument which has now been
abandoned, but,
furthermore, the very experienced counsel
appearing before Mann
J. expressly disclaimed any challenge to the
decision of the
Secretary of State on Wednesbury
principles. Nevertheless, a
detailed examination of the way in
which the application made by
the appellant for asylum was dealt
with by the immigration
authorities gives cause for grave concern.
The appellant Musisi arrived at
Heathrow airport on a flight
from Nairobi on 23 January 1983. He
sought leave to enter the
United Kingdom for the purpose of
visiting his two half sisters,
both now settled in the United
Kingdom and one of whom was his
sponsor. He and his sponsor were
both interviewed by an
immigration officer on the day of his
arrival. There were
discrepancies in what they told the officer,
who was not satisfied
and decided to make further enquiries. The
appellant was granted
temporary admission until 26 January. On
that day he was again
interviewed by another immigration officer
and the decision was
then taken to refuse him leave to enter as a
visitor. His
temporary admission was extended to the following day
when he
was to be removed by the airline with which he had
arrived.
- 8 -
On the morning of 27 January,
however, a claim by the
appellant to political asylum as a refugee
from Uganda was
communicated to the Home Office on his behalf by
the United
Kingdom Immigration Advisory Service. This resulted in
a further
extension of the appellant's temporary admission
"pending further
consideration of your case" which
remains in operation to this day.
Nothing, I think, now turns on any
inaccuracies or
discrepancies in the account which the appellant
gave of himself
when posing as an intending visitor, save that his
omission to
claim political asylum in the first instance has
naturally
engendered a degree of scepticism about the claim. But
the
appellant has always put forward the explanation that he had
been
advised to try to gain entry as a visitor and then to seek
asylum
through the "refugee office" in London, which
seems not to be
wholly implausible and which, so far as the
evidence shows, has
not been rejected by the Home Office as
untrue.
On 27 January 1983 the appellant
was interviewed in
connection with his claim to asylum by an
immigration officer at
Heathrow. This was an interview of first
importance, since it was
the only occasion in these protracted
proceedings when the
appellant was ever questioned face to face by
an official acting on
behalf of the Secretary of State. The
immigration officer gives
an account of this interview in an
affidavit sworn in the
proceedings and also exhibits his
contemporary notes in a document
entitled "Political Asylum
Interview Questionnaire." I shall
endeavour to extract from
these discursive documents a summary
of the relevant factual
information presented by the appellant. He
was born on 30 June
1960. He was educated in Uganda until
1973. In 1973 his father
fled from Uganda to Kenya, but was
arrested there and returned to
Uganda. He was never seen again
and was believed to have been
murdered by the Ugandan Secret
Police. The appellant and his
mother were in Kenya from 1974 to
1979 where the appellant
continued his schooling. They both
returned to Uganda in 1979. The
mother left in 1980 to return to
Kenya once more where she has
since remained. Other siblings
are also in Kenya. The appellant's
two half sisters, now in
England, had been harassed by soldiers in
Uganda. I interpolate
that, according to the appellant's own
affidavit, he was in 1982
living in Uganda with an aunt and two
cousins. At about this
time he told the immigration officer that
he was himself accused
of being a guerilla and beaten up. One of
his cousins was
arrested and taken to a barracks where he died of
injuries
inflicted on him. Before he died he gave the
authorities
particulars of his friends and relatives including the
appellant. His
other cousin had since been arrested and killed.
The appellant
feared the same fate awaited him in Uganda if he
returned. The
appellant last left Uganda in June 1982. He claimed
that he had
applied or attempted to apply for political asylum in
Kenya but
had been unsuccessful. His temporary permit to remain in
Kenya
would expire on 5 March 1983.
In his contemporary note of the
interview with the appellant
the immigration officer writes:
"The passenger is an
educated, intelligent, plausible
individual who comes from the
upper strata of Ugandan
society. He would have me believe that
Uganda is still a
- 9 -
turbulent and violent country and
should he return there he
feels his life would be in danger.
Significantly he did not
claim political asylum upon his arrival
in the U.K. but
sought to pass himself off as a bona fide visitor
who was
coming for a three week visit to see his sisters."
In the final paragraph he concludes:
"The passenger appeared in
good health, was alert and
confident at interview. My feelings are
that he is moving
away from Uganda because a better life awaits
him
somewhere else. Perhaps our people in Kampala can give
a
report on the current political, social and law and
order
position at present pertaining in Uganda."
In his affidavit sworn 18
months later the immigration officer
expresses his
conclusion differently in the following paragraph:
"I formed the view that the
applicant, who appeared to be
in good health, was alert and
confident at interview, was
moving away from Uganda because a
better life awaited him
somewhere else and that this was not a
genuine application
for asylum."
I find it strange that such an
important interview as this
should be entrusted to an immigration
officer at the port of entry
with no knowledge of conditions in
the country of origin of a
claimant for asylum. It seems even
stranger that having suggested
that local conditions should be
investigated, presumably with the
object of assessing the
background to the claim for asylum, the
interviewer should later
assert that he was in a position to, and
did, reject it as not
being genuine. Fortunately this view has
never been adopted by the
Home Office as the basis for a decision
on the appellant's
application for leave to enter. The department
has, in effect,
been content to leave open and undecided the
question whether the
appellant is a bona fide "refugee" as defined
in the
Convention. But it does little to inspire confidence in the
procedure
that the Home Office should have based their further
consideration
of the case on the immigration officer's report.
The next stage in the
consideration of the application for
leave to enter is explained
in the main affidavit sworn on behalf
of the Secretary of State by
Mr. McDowall, a Senior Principal in
the Immigration and
Nationality Department of the Home Office.
Two long paragraphs of
his affidavit examine in minute detail
various aspects of the
appellant's account as reported by the
immigration officer casting
inferential doubts on various aspects of
that account, in
particular the appellant's assertion that he had
applied for and
been refused political asylum in Kenya. The
conclusion reached at
this stage is expressed in the affidavit as
follows:
considering the above mentioned
matters due regard was
had to the problem of harassment and
intimidation which
the applicant and his family had experienced in
Uganda, but
it was considered to be of significance that the
applicant
had spent six out of eight years during the period
1974-1982
in Kenya where his mother, a brother and two sisters
reside
and where he had been living for the six months
- 10 -
immediately prior to his departure
for the United Kingdom.
In these circumstances it was concluded
that the applicant
had come to the United Kingdom from a safe
country and
that were he to be refused entry then he would not
be
required to go to Uganda but could return to Kenya instead
and
his application for asylum in this country was therefore
refused."
The formal refusal of the
application for asylum and directions for
the appellant's removal
to Kenya were communicated to the
appellant on 12 March 1983.
Before these directions were acted
on Mr. John Tilley M.P.
intervened on the appellant's behalf
writing to the Minister of
State and enclosing a long statement by
the appellant amplifying
in considerable detail the account he had
given of the persecution
of his family in Uganda and of the
difficulties he had encountered
in seeking to establish a basis on
which to remain in Kenya. The
Minister of State, in his reply
dated 8 July 1983, summarised the
history and expressed his
conclusion, confirming the decision to
refuse the appellant leave to
enter, in the phrases I have already
quoted from the affidavit of
Mr. McDowall that the appellant had
come from "a safe country"
and "would not be
required to go to Uganda but could return to
Kenya instead."
Fresh directions for the appellant's removal on 21
July were
issued but again were not acted on.
This time the appellant's case was
taken up by Mr. Stuart
Holland M.P., who wrote to the Minister of
State on 9 August
1983, enclosing a letter dated 30 July from a
Mr. Anthony Rose of
the Stockwell and Clapham Law Centre who was
now acting for
the appellant. Mr. Rose wrote:
"The Home Office's decision
to remove Herbert Musisi to
Kenya appears to ignore the fact that
Mr. Musisi will not
be allowed to enter Kenya and will almost
certainly be
immediately removed to Uganda where he has a
well-
founded fear that he will be deliberately killed.
This is because the situation in
Kenya has changed
drastically since the troubles last year as a
result of which
their immigration control has been considerably
tightened up.
I in fact spoke on the telephone
on Tuesday to the First
Secretary of the Kenyan High Commission
who confirmed
that Mr. Musisi could only be given leave to enter
Kenya if
he possessed a work permit (obtainable only in
similar
circumstances to a work permit for the U.K.) or a
student
visa in which case he would have to have been accepted
by
an appropriate educational institution for a course of
study
which he has paid for.
She further confirmed that if Mr.
Musisi were to arrive in
Kenya without permission to enter he
would be removed to
Uganda."
In his reply, dated 5 October
1983, the Minister of State
comments on this letter as follows:
"The enclosed letter suggests
that Mr. Musisi might be in
danger of being refused entry on his
arrival back in Kenya
- 11 -
and removed at once to Uganda, but
given his residential
and family ties with Kenya and the fact that
Kenya is a
signatory to the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to
the
Status of Refugees and would not knowingly remove a
Ugandan
citizen to Uganda if there was reason to believe he
would be
persecuted there, summary removal to Uganda
strikes me as unlikely
in the circumstances."
The Minister of State's letter goes on to suggest that the
appellant should enlist the assistance through the London
representative of the
U.N.H.C.R. of the Nairobi office of that
organisation.
Mr. Rose acted on this suggestion
and in further lengthy
correspondence, which was submitted to the
Minister of State by
Mr. Stuart Holland M.P., set out what he had
been told by
representatives of the U.N.H.C.R. which he regarded
as the
reverse of reassuring. In his final reply, dated 13 January
1984,
the Minister of State contented himself by saying that he
did not
"accept Mr. Rose's pessimistic interpretation of the
advice given
by U.N.H.C.R." He confirmed his previous
decisions. Notice was
given to the appellant, dated 16 January
1984, directing his
removal to Kenya by a flight leaving on 19
January 1984.
Presumably notice to the Home Office of an intention
to apply for
judicial review prevented the implementation of these
directions.
Leave to apply for judicial review in these
proceedings was
granted on 1 February 1984.
Following the passage to which I
have earlier referred, the
affidavit of Mr. McDowall gives a short
account of the exchanges
between the Members of Parliament who
intervened on the
appellant's behalf and the Minister of State,
and concludes as
follows:
"It is international practice
that where foreign nationals
embark from a country other than
their own for a third
country and that third country refuses them
permission to
land that they are returned to and accepted by the
country
from which they embarked and in such circumstances, it
is
not open to the Kenyan authorities to refuse this
applicant
leave to enter and should he satisfy the Kenyan
authorities
that he is indeed a refugee in that he has a well
founded
fear of persecution for the reasons referred to above
then
Kenya as a signatory to both the United Nations Convention
on
the Status of Refugees 1951 and the African Convention
on Refugees
1969 is unlikely to return him to Uganda in
breach of such
international obligations."
In addition to the evidence
originally filed in support of the
appellant's application for
judicial review, two further affidavits
sworn in October 1984 were
put in evidence. One is by a
Ugandan lawyer, now himself a refugee
from that country. He
gives a long and detailed account of the
difficulties experienced in
Kenya by Ugandans seeking to establish
their status as refugees
from their own country and of their
frequent repatriation to
whatever fate might await them in Uganda.
The second deponent
is a former Attorney-General and President of
Uganda who
testifies to the practice of the Kenyan authorities in
arresting and
repatriating refugees from Uganda. The reply to this
evidence is
- 12 -
contained in the affidavit of a
Mr. Handley, a Senior Executive
Officer in the Immigration and
Nationality Department of the
Home Office. In this affidavit Mr.
Handley states, echoing the
language used by the Minister of State
in his letter of 5 October
1983, that "it is the respondent's
belief that Kenya as a signatory
to the United Nations Convention
relating to the status of
refugees would not knowingly remove a
Ugandan citizen to Uganda
if there was reason to believe he would
be persecuted there." He
refers to the evidence alleging
repatriation of Ugandan refugees
from Kenya and comments as
follows:
"I can say that although it
has been the case that Kenya
has returned Ugandan nationals to
Uganda in the past the
respondent has no evidence that this
continues to be the
case and indeed earlier this year after
representations had
been made to it by the United Nations High
Commissioner
for Refugees the Kenyan Government confirmed its
position
as a signatory to the said Convention."
I approach the question raised by
the challenge to the
Secretary of State's decision on the basis of
the law stated earlier
in this opinion, viz. that the resolution
of any issue of fact and
the exercise of any discretion in
relation to an application for
asylum as a refugee lie exclusively
within the jurisdiction of the
Secretary of State subject only to
the court's power of review.
The limitations on the scope of that
power are well known and
need not be restated here. Within those
limitations the court
must, I think, be entitled to subject an
administrative decision to
the more rigorous examination, to
ensure that it is in no way
flawed, according to the gravity of
the issue which the decision
determines. The most fundamental of
all human rights is the
individual's right to life and when an
administrative decision under
challenge is said to be one which
may put the applicant's life at
risk, the basis of the decision
must surely call for the most
anxious scrutiny.
This is not, of course, a case
where the claim to refugee
status itself is in issue. The decision
of the Secretary of State,
as already pointed out, proceeds upon
the implicit assumption that
the appellant has or may have a
well-founded fear of persecution
in Uganda. Upon this premise to
remove him directly to Uganda
would be a clear breach of the
Convention. The troublesome
question is how far the provisions of
the Convention, to the extent
that they are incorporated in the
relevant immigration rules,
should be regarded as prohibiting the
removal of a person who is a
refugee from the country of his
nationality to a third country in
the face of an alleged danger
that the authorities in that third
country will send him home to
face the persecution he fears.
My Lords, I can well see that if a
person arrives in the
United Kingdom from country A claiming to be
a refugee from
country B, where country A is itself a party to the
Convention,
there can in the ordinary case be no obligation on the
immigration
authorities here to investigate the matter. If the
person is
refused leave to enter the United Kingdom, he will be
returned to
country A, whose responsibility it will be to
investigate his claim
to refugee status and, if it is established,
to respect it. This is, I
take it, in accordance with the
"international practice" of which
Mr. McDowall speaks in
his affidavit. The practice must rest upon
- 13 -
the assumption that all countries
which adhere to the Convention
may be trusted to respect their
obligations under it. Upon that
hypothesis, it is an obviously
sensible practice and nothing I say is
intended to question it. It
is not, however, difficult to imagine a
case where reliance on the
international practice would produce
the very consequence which
the Convention is designed to avoid,
i.e. the return of refugees
to the country where they will face the
persecution they fear.
Suppose it is well known that country A,
although a signatory to
the Convention, regularly sends back to its
totalitarian and
oppressive neighbour, country B, those opponents of
the regime in
country B who are apprehended in country A
following their escape
across the border. Against that background,
if a person arriving
in the United Kingdom from country A sought
asylum as a refugee
from country B, assuming he could establish
his well-founded fear
of persecution there, it would, it seems to
me, be as much a
breach of Article 33 of the Convention to
return him to country A
as to country B. The one course would
effect indirectly, the other
directly, the prohibited result, i.e. his
return "to the
frontiers of territories where his life or freedom
would be
threatened."
For the sake of illustration, I
have necessarily taken cases
at opposite ends of a spectrum. In
the ordinary case of a person
arriving here, from a third country,
and claiming asylum as a
refugee from the country of his
nationality, there will be no
ground to apprehend that his removal
to the third country whence
he comes would put him at risk. But at
the other end of the
spectrum, the risk may be obvious. Between
these two extremes
there may be varying degrees of danger that
removal to a third
country of a person claiming refugee status
will result in his
return to the country where he fears
persecution. If there is
some evidence of such a danger, it must
be for the Secretary of
State to decide as a matter of degree the
question whether the
danger is sufficiently substantial to involve
a potential breach of
Article 33 of the Convention. If the
Secretary of State has asked
himself that question and answered it
negatively in the light of all
relevant evidence, the court cannot
interfere.
With these considerations in mind,
I return to consider the
evidence. Whatever doubts I may entertain
as to the sufficiency
of the interview by the immigration officer
on 27 January 1983 as
a basis for subsequent decisions by the
Secretary of State, I
recognise that the initial decision in March
1983 to return the
appellant to the "safe country" from
which he had come, could not
be faulted. The point in the story at
which I first find grounds to
entertain serious doubts as to the
basis of the decision, is in the
reply by the Minister of State on
5 October 1983 to the
representations by Mr. Stuart Holland M.P.
In Mr. Rose's letter of
30 July 1983, a senior diplomatic
representative of Kenya was
reported as stating quite
categorically that, if returned to Kenya
without permission to
enter, the appellant would be removed to
Uganda. There is no
indication that the Home Office, either
directly or indirectly,
made any inquiry to verify or controvert this
statement or to
ascertain whether it was qualified by reference to
any possible
claim for asylum in Kenya. The statement remains
uncontroverted
save by implication by the statement in the
Minister of State's
letter that Kenya is a signatory to the
Convention and "would
not knowingly remove a Ugandan citizen to
Uganda if there was
reason to believe he would be persecuted
there."
- 14 -
Even at this stage, however, it
would be difficult not to
accept the statement by the Minister of
State in his letter,
effectively repeated in the concluding
passage of Mr. McDowall's
affidavit, that the appellant's removal
to Uganda was "unlikely" as
a sufficient and
unchallengeable answer to the relevant question
which the
Secretary of State was bound to ask himself. But it is
to be noted
in each case that the essential foundation for the
assessment was
the expressed confidence in Kenya's observation of
its obligations
under the Convention.
It is the additional evidence
filed on behalf of the appellant
in October 1984 directly alleging
breaches by Kenya of the
Convention by the return to Uganda of
Ugandan refugees, and
more particularly the reply to that evidence
filed on behalf of the
Secretary of State, which put a different
complexion on the matter.
The affidavit of Mr. Handley is at worst
self-contradictory, at
best, ambiguous. He asserts "the
respondent's belief that Kenya,
as a signatory to the Convention,
"would not knowingly" return
Ugandan refugees to Uganda.
But the very next sentence seems
to amount to an admission that
Ugandan refugees have been
returned to Uganda by Kenya. If this is
not the meaning, I do not
understand the relevance, in the
context, of the statement that "it
has been the case that
Kenya has returned Ugandan nationals to
Uganda in the past,"
still less why this should have led to
representations to the
Kenyan government by the U.N.H.C.R. The
inference one is entitled
to draw from this obscurely drafted
affidavit is that Kenya has at
some unspecified time in the past
been guilty to an unspecified
extent of returning Ugandan refugees
to Uganda in breach of
Article 33 of the Convention and that the
breaches were at least
sufficient to evoke a protest from the
U.N.H.C.R. The reaffirmed
belief of the Secretary of State that
Kenya "would not
knowingly" act in breach of the Convention may
perhaps be
referable to the Kenyan government's response to the
protest
"confirming its position as a signatory" to the Convention.
However that may be, I cannot
escape the conclusion that
the Secretary of State's decisions in
relation to the appellant were
taken on the basis of a confidence
in Kenya's performance of its
obligations under the Convention
which is now shown to have been,
at least to some extent,
misplaced. Since Mr. Handley's affidavit
does not condescend to
particularity we do not know when Kenya's
breaches of Article 33
in respect of Ugandan refugees occurred or
when they came to the
attention of the Home Office. The fact
of such breaches must be
very relevant to any assessment of the
danger that the appellant,
if returned to Kenya, would be sent
home to Uganda. Since the
decisions of the Secretary of State
appear to have been made
without taking that fact into account,
they cannot, in my opinion,
now stand.
In point of form the only relief
sought by the appellant in
his notice of application under R.S.C.
Ord. 53, r. 3(2) is an order
to quash the removal orders dated 12
March 1983, 13 July 1983
and 16 January 1984. Those orders
directed the appellant's
removal to Kenya by specified flights on
dates now long past. It
may be that, even if the appeal had
failed, the Secretary of State
would have felt obliged to
reconsider the issue of the propriety of
returning the appellant
to Kenya in circumstances which may have
changed radically after
the lapse of three years. But for the
- 15 -
reasons
I have given I am of the opinion that the appeal should be
allowed
and the orders formally quashed.
LORD BRANDON OF OAKBROOK
My Lords,
I have had the advantage of
reading in draft the speeches
prepared by my noble and learned
friends, Lord Bridge of Harwich
and Lord Templeman. I agree with
them, and for the reasons
which they give I would dismiss the
first three appeals and allow
the fourth.
LORD TEMPLEMAN
My Lords,
Section 1(1) of the Immigration
Act 1971 provides that
patrials, i.e. persons having the right of
abode in the United
Kingdom, shall be free to live in, and to come
into the United
Kingdom without let or hindrance, but by section
1(2) all other
persons:
"may live, work and settle in
the United Kingdom by
permission and subject to such regulations
and control of
their entry into, stay in and departure from the
United
Kingdom as is imposed by this Act;"
By section 3(1) a person who is not patrial:
"shall not enter the United
Kingdom unless given leave to
do so in accordance with this Act
[and] may be given leave
to enter ... or remain in the United
Kingdom either for a
limited or for an indefinite period;"
By section 3(2) the Secretary of
State shall from time to
time lay before Parliament statements of
the rules laid down by
him as to the practice to be followed in
the administration of the
Act for regulating the entry into and
stay in the United Kingdom
of persons required to have leave to
enter.
By section 4(1) the power to give
or refuse leave to enter
the United Kingdom shall be exercised by
immigration officers and
the power to give leave to remain in the
United Kingdom shall be
exercised by the Secretary of State. By
section 4(2) the provisions
of Schedule 2 to the Act shall have
effect with respect to the
appointment and powers of immigration
officers, the examination
of persons arriving in or leaving the
United Kingdom, the exercise
by immigration officers of their
powers in relation to entry into
the United Kingdom, the removal
from the United Kingdom of
persons refused leave to enter or
entering or remaining unlawfully,
and the detention of persons
pending examination or pending
removal from the United Kingdom.
- 16 -
By paragraph 1 of Schedule 2,
immigration officers for the
purposes of the Act shall be
appointed by the Secretary of State
and shall act in accordance
with such instructions (not inconsistent
with the immigration
rules) as may be given to them by the
Secretary of State. By
paragraph 2, an immigration officer may
examine any person who has
arrived in the United Kingdom, and
by paragraph S where a person
is refused leave to enter, an
immigration officer may give
directions for his removal from the
United Kingdom. By paragraph
9, an immigration officer may
direct the removal from the United
Kingdom of an illegal entrant.
By paragraph 10, powers of removal
are also given to the
Secretary of State. By paragraph 16 and 21,
any person liable to
be examined or removed, may either be
detained or temporarily
admitted to the United Kingdom.
Sections 13-21 of the Act of 1971
enable any person refused
leave to enter or directed to be removed
from the United
Kingdom to appeal to an adjudicator and from the
adjudicator to
an appeals tribunal but save in specific and
limited cases not
material in these proceedings, a person is not
entitled to appeal so
long as he is in the United Kingdom.
The restrictions and limitations
imposed by the Act of 1971
on entry into and stay in the United
Kingdom create a control and
regulation of individuals and numbers
by the decisions of the
immigration authorities, i.e. immigration
officers and the Secretary
of State. An appeal from a decision
lies only to an adjudicator
and an appeal tribunal established by
the Act, and then only if the
appellant has left the United
Kingdom. This is not surprising.
The numbers of appellants and
possible appellants would not permit
all appellants to be released
into the United Kingdom or detained
pending the completion of the
appellate process. If it is necessary
to control entry into the
United Kingdom, immediate effect must
in general be given to the
decisions of the immigration authorities
unless in any individual
case the immigration authorities direct
otherwise, if such control
is not to break down.
The Act of 1971 does not allow the
courts of this country
to participate in the decision-making or
appellate processes which
control and regulate the right to enter
and remain in the United
Kingdom. This also is not surprising.
Applications for leave to
enter and remain do not in general raise
justiciable issues.
Decisions under the Act are administrative and
discretionary rather
than judicial and imperative. Such decisions
may involve the
immigration authorities in pursuing enquiries
abroad, in consulting
official and unofficial organisations and in
making value judgments.
The only power of the court is to quash or
grant other effective
relief in judicial review proceedings in
respect of any decision
under the Act of 1971 which is made in
breach of the provisions
of the Act or the rules thereunder or
which is the result of
procedural impropriety or unfairness or is
otherwise unlawful.
The appellants are not patrial.
Three of them are illegal
entrants liable to be removed from the
United Kingdom under the
Act of 1971. The appellant, Mr. Musisi,
has been refused leave to
enter the United Kingdom and is also
liable to be removed under
the Act. The appellants are entitled to
appeal to an adjudicator
or an appeals tribunal once they have
been removed from the
United Kingdom but this appellate procedure
is useless to them
- 17 -
because they all seek to remain in
the United Kingdom on the
grounds that they fear persecution if
they are removed from the
United Kingdom. Nevertheless, the courts
remain powerless to
intervene unless the appellants demonstrate
that they are entitled
to the protection afforded by the process
of judicial review.
The United Kingdom is a signatory
to the 1951 Convention
relating to the Status of Refugees and the
1967 Protocol relating
to the Status of Refugees. Article 1 of the
Convention defines a
refugee as a person who:
"owing to well-founded fear
of being persecuted for reasons
of race, religion, nationality,
membership of a particular
social group or political opinion, is
outside the country of
his nationality and is unable, or owing to
such fear, is
unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that
country;
or who, not having a nationality and being outside
the
country of his former habitual residence as a result of
such
events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling
to
return to it."
Each of the appellants claims to
be a refugee. By Article
33 of the Convention, the United Kingdom
as a signatory to the
Convention, has undertaken not to return:
"a refugee in any manner
whatsoever to the frontiers of
territories where his life or
freedom would be threatened on
account of his race, religion,
nationality, membership of a
particular social group or political
opinion."
By the Act of 1971, a person who
is not patrial but claims
to be a refugee must nevertheless obtain
leave from the
immigration authorities to enter or remain in the
United Kingdom
and is liable to be removed from the United Kingdom
if the
immigration authorities do not accept his claim to be a
refugee.
By paragraph 73 of the Statement
of Changes in
Immigration Rules (1983) (HC169) laid before
Parliament on 9
February 1983 under section 3(2) of the Act of
1971:
"Special considerations arise
where the only country to
which a person could be removed is one
to which he is
unwilling to go owing to well-founded fear of
being
persecuted for reasons of race, religion,
nationality,
membership of a particular social group or political
opinion.
Any case in which it appears to the immigration officer
as
a result of a claim or information given by the person
seeking
entry at a port that he might fall within the terms
of this
provision is to be referred to the Home Office for
decision
regardless of any grounds set out in any provision
of these rules
which may appear to justify refusal of leave
to enter. Leave to
enter will not be refused if removal
would be contrary to the
provisions of the Convention and
Protocol relating to the Status
of Refugees."
Paragraph 16 directs that where a
person is a refugee full
account is to be taken of the provisions
of the Convention and
Protocol and nothing in the rules is to be
construed as requiring
action contrary to the United Kingdom's
obligations under those
instruments.
- 18 -
It follows that any claim by a
person to enter or remain in
the United Kingdom on the grounds
that he is a refugee must be
carefully considered and decided by
the Secretary of State. No
appeal from the decision of the
Secretary of State denying refugee
status lies to the courts and
no effective appeal lies to the
adjudicator or appeals tribunal
established by the Act if the person
claiming refugee status is
denied that status by the Secretary of
State and is removed
pursuant to the provisions of the Act of
1971 to the country
where, contrary to the view formed by the
Secretary of State, he
is in fact in danger of persecution.
The claims of the first three
appellants to be refugees have
been considered and rejected by the
Secretary of State and orders
have been made for their removal
from the United Kingdom. Mr.
Musisi claims to be a refugee but has
been refused leave to enter
the United Kingdom and his removal has
been ordered. The
appellants now claim judicial review of the
orders for their
removal.
The first three appellants contend
that the court is entitled
and bound to decide whether they are
refugees protected by the
Convention and the Protocol but this
contention is inconsistent
with the Act of 1971 which entrusts to
the immigration authorities
the right and duty to determine
whether any person who is not
patrial shall be given leave to
enter or remain in the United
Kingdom.
In the alternative, these
appellants contend that they are
entitled to remain in the United
Kingdom until their right to
refugee status has been considered by
the adjudicator and appeal
tribunal system created by the Act of
1971. This contention is
inconsistent with sections 13(3) and
16(2) which in the present
circumstances deny the appellants power
to appeal so long as they
are in the United Kingdom.
My noble and learned friend, Lord
Bridge of Harwich has
dealt in more detail with the contentions
adopted by the
appellants. The actions of a statutory
decision-making body may
be controlled by the court in judicial
review proceedings if there
has been a defect in the
decision-making process. In the case of
Mr. Musisi but not in the
case of any of the other appellants, the
evidence discloses that
there may have been such a defect. The
action of an authority
entrusted by Parliament with decision-
making can be investigated
by the court:
"with a view to seeing
whether it has taken into account
matters which it ought not to
take into account or,
conversely, has refused to take into account
or neglected to
take into account matters which it ought to take
into
account;" per Lord Greene M.R. in Associated
Provincial
Picture Houses Ltd, v. Wednesbury Corporation [1947]
2 All
E.R. 680, 685.
In my opinion where the result of
a flawed decision may
imperil life or liberty a special
responsibility lies on the court in
the examination of the
decision-making process. In the case of
Mr. Musisi, a first
reading of the evidence filed on behalf of the
Secretary of State
and Mr. Musisi, gives rise to a suspicion that
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the dangers and doubts involved in
sending Mr. Musisi back to
Kenya have not been adequately
considered and resolved. As a
result of the analysis of the
evidence undertaken by my noble and
learned friend, Lord Bridge of
Harwich, I am not satisfied that the
Secretary of State took into
account or adequately resolved the
ambiguities and uncertainties
which surround the conduct and
policy of the authorities in Kenya.
With relief I gratefully concur
in the reasoning of my noble and
learned friend, Lord Bridge of
Harwich, and agree that the orders
made in respect of Mr. Musisi
should be quashed. The appeals of
the other appellants against the
refusal of the Court of Appeal
and the Divisional Court to quash
the orders made against them
must be dismissed.
LORD GRIFFITHS
My Lords,
I have had the advantage of
reading in draft the speech
prepared by my noble and learned
friend, Lord Bridge of Harwich.
I agree that for the reasons he
gives the first three appeals should
be dismissed and the fourth
appeal allowed.
LORD GOFF OF CHIEVELEY
My Lords,
I have had the advantage of
reading in draft the speech
prepared by my noble and learned
friend, Lord Bridge of Harwich.
I agree that for the reasons he
gives the first three appeals should
be dismissed and the fourth
appeal allowed.
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