N v United Kingdom

Legal case

N v United Kingdom
CourtEuropean Court of Human Rights
Citation[2008] ECHR 453
Keywords
Health, deportation, exceptional circumstances

N v United Kingdom [2008] ECHR 453 is an ECHR human rights case, concerning the lawfulness of deporting an individual in the UK with serious health issues.

Facts

A Ugandan citizen with HIV/AIDS claimed deportation to Uganda would be inhuman and degrading under ECHR article 3, because she would be unlikely to get health treatment. Without treatment she would stay alive for 2 years, with treatment for decades, almost as normal.

The House of Lords [2005] UKHL 31 agreed her case was not sufficiently exceptional, to justify halting deportation.

Judgment

The European Court of Human Rights agreed with the House of Lords that the case was not exceptional, in contrast to the case of D v United Kingdom (1997) 24 EHRR 423.

... Article 3 does not place an obligation on the Contracting States to alleviate such disparities through provision of free and unlimited health care to all aliens without a right to stay within its jurisdiction. A finding to the contrary would place too great a burden on the Contracting States.

See also

  • v
  • t
  • e
Public health sources
UDHR 1948 art 25
European Social Charter 1961 arts 11 and 13
ECHR 1950 arts 2, 3 and 8
National Health Service Act 2006 ss 1-1I, Sch 1A and Sch 7
NHS (Clinical Commissioning Groups) Regulations 2012 regs 11-12
Health and Social Care Act 2012 ss 75, 115-121 and 165
NHS (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) (No 2) Regulations 2013 regs 2-11
National Health Service (Private Finance) Act 1997 s 1
R (B) v Cambridge Health Authority [1995] EWCA Civ 43
R (Coughlan) v North and East Devon HA [1999] EWCA Civ 1871
R (Ann Marie Rogers) v Swindon PCT [2006] EWCA Civ 392
R (Watts) v Bedford Primary Care Trust (2006) C-372/04
NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015 regs 3-9
N v United Kingdom [2008] ECHR 453
see UK enterprise law

Notes

References