UK & other courts
In R (Bashir & Ors) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] EWCA Civ 397 the Court of Appeal held that, having been rescued from a Lebanese fishing boat in the Mediterranean and taken to one of the British Sovereign Base Areas (SBA) in Cyprus, as refugees, the UK was obliged to accept the relocation of the Claimants to the UK rather than to the Republic of Cyprus. In so holding, the Court rejected the Secretary of State’s contention that neither the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) nor the the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights extend to the SBAs and thus that the Claimants do not have the right to move to the UK, considering that the SBA was not a new political entity. Thus the Court held that the Secretary of State must reconsider the decision of allowing the refugees to move to Britain, on the basis that the Refugee Convention applies directly and the United Kingdom owes direct obligations to the Claimants by operation of public international law.
UN & the UK
UNA-UK has discussed where the parties campaigning in the General Election 2017 stand on the UN and foreign policy.
Evaluation of UK’s international obligations
The Guardian reports that an international coalition of lawyers, scientists, Government representatives and academics have recently started to draft the first legal manual of space warfare, establishing the legal parameters for the military uses of outer space.
UK’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU
Politico reports that the EU’s General Affairs Council will be getting ‘a new lease of life’ through Brexit, approving the detailed directives for Michel Barnier. EU ministers have endorsed 18 pages of legally binding instructions for the EU’s chief negotiator.
With the EU having agreed its position, Michel Barnier has stated that the bloc is ready for Brexit talks, playing down suggestions that these may collapse. Meanwhile the Centre for European Reform has published a paper arguing that no deal would be much worse than a bad deal.
The former head of the Government Legal Department, Sir Paul Jenkins, has stated that Whitehall needs better political guidance on Brexit priorities, warning of civil service ‘strains’.
Brussels has issued its criteria for deciding the post-Brexit home of the European Medicines Agency and the European Banking Authority, currently based in London, setting the stage for a five month battle between states.
The Financial Times discusses the law and politics of the EU’s Brexit bill.
The Conversation blog has argued that the EU’s Singapore trade deal ruling will not result in a smoother Brexit road for the UK.
The RAND Corporation have published an overview report discussing defence and security after Brexit, exploring the possible implications.
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