UK SUPREME COURTS RULING IN SHAMIMA BEGUM CASE IS INCONSISTENT WITH HUMAN RIGHTS
26th February 2021
(London, 26 February 2021) – Today, the UK Supreme Court has disappointingly ruled that Shamima Begum, who travelled to Syria as a school child in the context of the Islamic State (IS) conflict, will not be permitted to enter the UK to challenge the British Governments decision to strip her of her British citizenship. In reaction, Rights and Security International (RSI) and the Institute of Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI) have expressed significant concerns about the judgments potential impact on the right to a fair trial and the governments ability to deprive individuals of their citizenship without adequate safeguards.
In a potential case of online grooming, child trafficking and sexual exploitation, Begum, who was years below the legal age of marriage in both the UK and Syria, travelled to Syria in 2015 and soon afterwards became the ostensible wife of an Islamic State member. Since at least 2019, she has been living in camps for women and children displaced by the conflict with IS. UN experts have concluded – and lower UK courts have accepted – that conditions in the camps amount to inhuman or degrading treatment in violation of human rights standards. RSI has documented the life-threatening conditions in Roj