Charles Unuane v. the United Kingdom Violation of Article 8

London: The applicant, Charles Unuane, is a Nigerian national who was born in 1963. The case concerned the applicant’s deportation to Nigeria, following a criminal conviction, forcing him to leave his partner and three children in the United Kingdom. The applicant came to the UK as a visitor in 1998 and was granted a right of residence the following year. In December 2000, the applicant’s Nigerian partner entered the UK, and their three children were born thereafter. In 2009 he and his partner were convicted of offences relating to the falsification of some 30 applications for leave to remain in the UK. He was ultimately sentenced to a period of five years and six months’ imprisonment, while his partner was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment.

In 2014 the Secretary of State for the Home Department issued a deportation order against the applicant, his partner, and two of their children, who at the time were not British citizens, as dependent family members of the applicant’s partner. The Secretary of State considered that the applicant and his partner were foreign criminals and their deportation was for the public good. The applicant appealed against the Secretary of State’s decision on the grounds that he had an established family life and private life in the UK and his deportation to Nigeria would be in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. The applicant’s partner and the two children also appealed. Ultimately, in 2016, the domestic courts allowed the appeals of the applicant’s partner and children, concluding that separating them would be “unduly harsh” on the children. The courts further acknowledged an acute need for parental support in the case of the eldest of the children who had a heart defect and was to have forthcoming surgery in the UK which was not available in Nigeria.

The applicant’s appeal was, on the other hand, dismissed because he could not identify, as required by the Immigration Rules, “very compelling circumstances” against his deportation, over and above the parental relationship with his children. The applicant was deported in February 2018. Relying in particular on Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the Convention, the applicant complained that his deportation to Nigeria had disproportionately interfered with his family and private life. Violation of Article 8

Spource: ECtHR, 24th November 2020