Case No. UKUT-00094-(IAC)

v Lithuania (55480/2000) (2006) 42 EHRR 6, which concerned employment restrictions imposed by Lithuania on those of its citizens who, prior to independence, had worked for the Lithuanian branch of the KGB. One reading of [43] of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights could imply the existence of a broad, Article 8-based ability to “freely pursue the development and fulfilment of his or her personality.” Two observations follow, based on the analysis of the Court of Appeal. First, Sidabras concerned the ability of certain citizens of Lithuania to access the labour market in the country of their own nationality. The applicant, as a citizen of Afghanistan, cannot possibly be said to be in an analogous position. No breach of Article 8 was found in Sidabras in any event. Secondly, to the extent that the approach of the ECHR appeared to mandate a broad, Article 8-based right to access the labour market, it was described by Lord Bingham at [15] of