Consideration of Bill, as amended in the Committee
[Relevant Documents: Oral evidence taken before the Joint Committee on Human Rights on 15 March, on the Human Rights of Asylum Seekers in the UK, HC 821; Oral evidence taken before the Joint Committee on Human Rights on 22 and 29 March, on Legislative Scrutiny: Illegal Migration Bill, HC 1241;Correspondence between the Joint Committee on Human Rights and the Home Secretary, on the Illegal Migration Bill, reported to the House on 24 April 2022.]
New Clause 17
Serious Harm Suspensive Claims: Interpretation
‘(1) The definitions in subsections (2) and (3) have effect for the purposes of section 37, this section and sections 38 to 50.
(2) A “serious harm suspensive claim” means a claim by a person (“P”) who has been given a third country removal notice that the serious harm condition is met in relation to P.
(3) The “serious harm condition” is that P would, before the end of the relevant period, face a real, imminent and foreseeable risk of serious and irreversible harm if removed from the United Kingdom under this Act to the country or territory specified in the third country removal notice.
(4) The following are examples of harm that constitute serious and irreversible harm for the purposes of this Act—
(a) death;
(b) persecution falling within subsection (2)(a) or (b) of section 31 of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 (read together with subsections (1) and (3) of that section) (Article 1(A)(2) of the Refugee Convention: persecution) where P is not able to avail themselves of protection from that persecution;
(c) torture;
(d) inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
(e) onward removal from the country or territory specified in the third country removal notice to another country or territory where P would face a real, imminent and foreseeable risk of any harm mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (d).
(5) The following are examples of harm that do not constitute serious and irreversible harm for the purposes of this Act—
(a) persecution not falling within subsection (2)(a) or (b) of section 31 of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 (read together with subsections (1) and (3) of that section);
(b) persecution falling within subsection (2)(a) or (b) of section 31 of that Act (read together with subsections (1) and (3) of that section) where P is able to avail themselves of protection from that persecution;
(c) where the standard of healthcare available to P in the relevant country or territory is lower than is available to P in the United Kingdom, any harm resulting from that different standard of healthcare (including, in particular, a less favourable medical prognosis).
(6) Subsection (7) is an example of harm that is unlikely to constitute serious and irreversible harm for the purposes of this Act.
(7) Any pain or distress resulting from a medical treatment that is available to P in the United Kingdom not being available to P in the relevant country or territory.