European Arrest Warrant
The European arrest warrant (EAW) has been in operation since 2004. Since the, the number of requests for return of people has grown year-on-year and is now into the thousands. The UK receives many of these requests, often from jurisdictions where prosecution of offences must be pursued no matter how trivial. But, under an EAW, the reasonableness (or proportionality) of a request cannot be considered by UK courts – because they are required to recognise judicial decisions from other member states. The few grounds for barring extradition largely relate to human rights issues – such as likelihood of an unfair trial or mistreatment in custody, or the adverse effect on family or private life. But UK courts have been slow to find that other EU member states are likely to violate these fundamental safeguards.
JUSTICE has had concerns about the EAW since the warrant’s inception. We continue to lobby the EU and UK for changes to improve human rights protections.
Recent work
Achieving Best Practice in EAW Cases
We are working with ICJ EU sections and the European Criminal Bar Association to identify human rights issues in EAW cases across the EU and to solve these problems through representation in both countries.
Read about the aims of the project and a presentation on progress in the project so far.
Read our interim report on developing best practice amongst defence lawyers and access to justice in European arrest warrant cases.