This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/uk-15272121
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Supreme Court says forced marriage rules are unlawful | Supreme Court says forced marriage rules are unlawful |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| By Dominic Casciani Home affairs correspondent, BBC News | |
| A government ban on non-EU foreign spouses under the age of 21 coming to the UK is unlawful, judges have ruled. | |
| The ruling by the Supreme Court is a major blow to an immigration policy designed to stop forced marriages. | The ruling by the Supreme Court is a major blow to an immigration policy designed to stop forced marriages. |
| The rule, introduced in 2008, meant a foreign husband or wife from outside the EU could not join their partner in the UK if they were under 21 years old. | The rule, introduced in 2008, meant a foreign husband or wife from outside the EU could not join their partner in the UK if they were under 21 years old. |
| The court said that the rule was unjustified because it interfered with the human rights of couples. | The court said that the rule was unjustified because it interfered with the human rights of couples. |
| The case was brought by two couples who said that the immigration rule had unlawfully interfered with their right to a private and family life - a crucial element of the European Convention on Human Rights. | |
| Briton Amber Aguilar and her husband, Diego, from Chile, were under 21 when the rule was introduced - and Diego was banned from staying with his wife in the UK once his student visa had expired. | |
| They couple chose to live initially in Chile, before moving to Ireland, rather than live apart. As a consequence, Amber lost her place at university in England. | |
| The second case involved Suhyal Mohammed, a British man of south Asian origin, who was banned from bringing his young Pakistani wife Shakira Bibi to live with him in the UK. | |
| The couple had come together through a traditional arranged marriage in which both families play a role in finding a suitable partner. | |
| In neither couples' case was there any suggestion that the marriages were forced. | |
| The High Court had initially backed the home secretary's power to prevent spouses under the age of 21 entering the UK. | |
| But declaring the rule incompatible with the couples' rights, Lord Wilson said in the Supreme Court's judgement the government had acted unlawfully because it had not shown a good case for interfering with the right to private and family life. | |
| "I would acknowledge that the [change in rules] is rationally connected to the objective of deterring forced marriages," he said. | |
| "But the number of forced marriages which it deters is highly debatable. What seems clear is that the number of unforced marriages which it obstructs from their intended development for up to three years vastly exceeds the number of forced marriages which it deters." | |
| Lord Wilson said Home Secretary Theresa May had not quantified the scale of the problem in any meaningful way that would justify preventing under-21s settling in the UK after marriage. | |
| He said: "On any view it is a sledgehammer but she has not attempted to indentify the size of the nut. | |
| "At all events she fails to establish that the interference with the rights of the respondents under article 8 is justified." | |
| One of the five justices, Lord Brown, ruled in the government's favour. | |
| He said: "The extent to which the rule will help combat forced marriage and the countervailing extent to which it will disrupt the lives of innocent couples adversely affected by it is largely a matter of judgement. | |
| "Unless demonstrably wrong, this judgement should be rather for government than for the courts." |