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Supreme Court decisions on rights of domestic workers in Embassies

Daphne
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Useful summary from Kalayaan which starts -

Kalayaan is delighted that on Anti Slavery Day 2017, the Supreme Court has handed down judgments in two cases in which domestic workers in diplomatic households challenged the immunity of their employers and that the domestic workers have won in both cases.

And also from Garden Court Chambers

Benkharbouche (Respondent) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Appellant)

Reyes (Appellant/Cross-Respondent) v Al-Malki and another (Respondents/Cross-Appellants)

Stuart
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... five years later…

The Joint Committee on Human Rights has agreed to the government’s amendments to a revised Draft State Immunity Act 1978 (Remedial) Order 2022 that addresses the issues covered in the Supreme Court’s decisions -

The Committee explains that -

‘The government introduced the draft remedial order following two Supreme Court judgments that found the State Immunity Act 1978 to be incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. The remedial order relates to how foreign states are granted immunity from prosecution for employment claims brought against them by workers in embassies based in the UK. The Supreme Court found that the legislation currently granted greater immunity than was required by international law meaning that certain categories of employees, such as domestic workers, were wrongfully denied the right to take their cases to court.’

The Committee finds that the measures introduced by the government through the Order -

‘... would rectify the incompatibilities identified in these cases and ensure that, in this context, state immunity was provided to the extent required by international law and no further..

more: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/93/human-rights-joint-committee/news/174715/committee-welcomes-greater-legal-protections-for-embassy-workers/

[ Edited: 29 Nov 2022 at 01:11 pm by Stuart ]
Stuart
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The Remedial Order (SI.No.112/2023) has been made and comes into force on 23 February 2023 - the explanatory memorandum to the Order includes -

Purpose of the instrument
2.1 To amend the State Immunity Act 1978 (SIA) to allow a category of claimants to bring claims against their diplomatic mission or consular post employers. This is to implement the Supreme Court judgment in Benkharbouche v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [2017] UKSC 62, (Benkharbouche).

2.2 This Remedial Order removes the incompatibility identified by the Supreme Court between Article 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) (right to a fair trial), including as read with Article 14 ECHR (protection from discrimination), and the SIA.