Asylum

The issue before the court concerned whether, having regard to the Italian immigration system and the conditions in that state generally, the secretary of state’s decision to certify an asylum claim, and thus the obligation then to transfer the asylum seeker to Italy, involved a breach of Art 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The court held that there was no general right to accommodation or a minimum standard of living that could be drawn from the convention or the Directives, or from elsewhere in the European or domestic human rights, social or other legislation.

The setting of such a minimum standard—no matter how low—was a matter for social legislation, not the courts. The court had to adopt a cautious approach to ensure that it did not inappropriately encroach into areas reserved to the political decision of the executive government.