Urgent interim measures are possible under Rule 39 of the Rules of the Court. See the court's factsheet - FS_Interim_measures_ENG (coe.int)
K.N. is an Iraqi national who travelled to the UK via Turkey, across Europe and across the English Channel by boat. He claimed asylum in the UK on 17 May 2022. He faced removal to Rwanda on 14 June 2022.
The ECtHR indicated to the UK Government
that the applicant should not be removed to Rwanda until three weeks after the delivery of the final domestic decision in his ongoing judicial review proceedings.Interim measures do not prejudge any subsequent decisions on the admissibility or merits of a case.
The Court grants such requests only on an exceptional basis, when the applicants would otherwise face a real risk of irreversible harm.
The High Court refused to grant the applicant’s request for interim relief, either by preventing the relocation of all asylum seekers to Rwanda under the asylum partnership agreement or by preventing the applicant’s removal there. It assumed that Rwanda would comply with the Memorandum of Understanding, even though it was not legally binding, but in any event it considered that the interim period was likely to be short (it plans to hear the applicant’s judicial review challenge in July) and it found that if the applicant’s judicial review challenge was successful, he could be returned to the UK.
The High Court did accept that the question whether the decision to treat Rwanda as a safe third country was irrational or based on insufficient enquiry gave rise to “serious triable issues” which would have to be considered by the court when it addressed the merits of the applicant’s challenge.
See ECtHR - Interim measure granted in case concerning asylum-seeker’s imminent removal from the UK to Rwanda (coe.int)
Reaction:
In an entirely predicable reaction there was comment from the Justice Secretary (Dominic Raab MP) that the need for reforms to human rights protections in the UK is strengthened by the action of the ECtHR - Rwanda asylum plan: European court intervention was wrong, says Raab - BBC News.
There were also comments that the government has not ruled out withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights - No 10 not ruling out human rights convention withdrawal after Rwanda flight blow | The Independent. A typical reaction of an executive that seeks to get rid of possible challenges to ministerial action.
It is worth noting here the point that, although the High Court in London planned to hear K.N.'s case in July, there would still have been a deportation to Rwanda but for the intervention of the ECtHR.
17 June 2022
Previous post on the Rwanda "mechanism" is Law and Lawyers: UK and Rwanda ~ "mechanism" to relocate asylum seekers (obiterj.blogspot.com)
Law and Lawyers: Human Rights in UK (obiterj.blogspot.com)
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