Human Rights Court rejects Battersbee parents' petition

The European Court of Human Rights has refused to intervene in the case of Archie Battersbee, the 12 year old boy whose life support doctors are proposing to turn off.

Archie's parents had sought an interim order under the court's rule 39 to prevent the hospital caring for the boy from withdrawing life support. This followed the refusal by the UK Supreme Court of permission to appeal the refusal of a stay on the hospital taking that step as requested by the UN Committee for the Rights of People with Disabilities. No information was available as to how long that committee would need to consider the case.

The English courts have decided that it is in Archie's best interests to end his treatment, on "compelling" medical evidence that he has sustained irreversible brain stem damage. Archie was found unconscious by his mother in April this year with a ligature over his head. She believes he had been taking part in an online challenge. He has since been kept alive while in a coma. His parents say his heart is still beating and he has been able to grip his mother's hand. However doctors have said there is no prospect of his recovery.

In their application to the Strasbourg court, Archie's parents argued that the failure to honour the UN Committee's request breached article 2 of the Human Rights Convention, recognising the right to life, read with article 14 (prevention of discrimination). They also lodged a substantive application founding on article 2 and several other articles. They sought an interim order under rule 39, the rule by which the court ordered the UK Government to suspend its plan to remove refugee applicants to Rwanda pending a decision by the English courts on the legality of the scheme.

Refusing the order, the court's President, Judge Robert Spano, found that the conditions for admissibility of the applications under articles 34 and 35 of the Convention had not been met, indicating that the court would respect the consideration given by the UK courts. He did so without deciding whether the court in fact had jurisdiction: article 35 states that the court will not deal with any application already submitted to another procedure of international investigation or settlement.

Archie's parents have now exhausted all the legal avenues open to them. His life support will be withdrawn at 11am today unless they attempt to have him moved to a hospice, which doctors have also advised against.