FDA, R (On the Application Of) v Minister for the Cabinet Office & Anor

Tom Hickman KC and Jo Moore (instructed by Slater & Gordon) for the Claimant Sir James Eadie KC, Cecilia Ivimy and Sean Aughey (instructed by Government Legal Department) for the Defendants and the Interested Party Hearing date: Thursday 6 June 2024 ____________________

(a) The undertaking not to hinder the effective exercise of the right of individual application "precludes any interference with the individual's right to present and pursue his complaint before the Strasbourg Court effectively". This includes an obligation to "refrain� from any act or omission which, by destroying or removing the subject matter of an application, would make it pointless or otherwise prevent the Strasbourg Court from considering it under its normal procedure": [102].

(b) Interim measures had been indicated only in limited spheres � in practice, "only if there is an imminent risk of irreparable damage". The vast majority of Rule 39 Indications had been in deportation and extradition proceedings": [104].

(c) Cases where states had failed to comply with indicated measures "remain very rare": [105].

(d) Other international courts, tribunals and bodies � in particular the UN Human Rights Committee, and Committee Against Torture, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the International Court of Justice � make interim orders which are legally binding: [111]-[117].