Third Administrative Challenge launched by ASER against the Prime Minister of France (Urgent Request)

The claimant relied on governing domestic law to ground their request that urgent measures must be taken to protect the fundamental freedoms of the Yemeni population from being infringed upon by the administrative decision to issue the contested customs permits. Code of Administrative Justice, Article L.521-2. 

The Court dismissed the claimant’s request.

While it recognised that both the right to life and the right to freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment fall within the scope of the relevant legislation and are placed at risk by the export of arms for use in Yemen, it concluded that the claimant had not provided sufficiently precise and detailed information on how the specific customs permits would directly infringe on these rights.

In turn, the court concluded: ‘Under these conditions, even though there is a link between such authorisations and the suffering of the Yemeni population, the conditions likely to characterise an emergency situation of such a nature as to justify the use of the specific powers … by Article L. 521-2 of the Code of Administrative Justice are not met. As a result, the application is manifestly unfounded.’