Commentary on provisions of the Act Section 39: Serious harm suspensive claims: interpretation
Subsection (3) defines a "serious harm suspensive claim". Such a claim arises where a person would face a real, imminent and foreseeable risk of serious and irreversible harm were they to be removed to the country or territory specified in the removal notice given under section 8(2)(a). The harm must arise before the substantive human rights claim has been decided by the Secretary of State or any application for judicial review is exhausted. The "real, imminent and foreseeable risk of serious and irreversible harm" test reflects that applied by the European Court of Human Rights when considering whether to grant interim measures (in effect an injunction) under Rule 39 of its Rules of Court (see factsheet here ). "Serious" indicates that the harm must meet a minimum level of severity, and "irreversible" means that the harm would have a permanent effect.
	Subsections (4) and (5) provide a non-exhaustive list of examples of what does and does not constitute serious and irreversible harm for the purposes of the Act. Subsections (6) and (7) provide an example of what is unlikely to constitute serious and irreversible harm for the purposes of the Act. Subsection (8) defines persecution for the purposes of subsections (4) and (5).
	Subsection (9) defines the term "relevant period" as used in this section.