A girl born here with a rare and serious bowel disease which, her Nigerian mother claimed, would expose the child to persecution as a witch if deported, has won her legal challenge to being refused refugee status.
Her application must be reconsidered by a different member of the Refugee Appeals Tribunal (RAT) in line with his High Court findings, Mr Justice Robert Eagar said.
The mother had argued the tribunal had failed to properly consider medical evidence and country of origin information before concluding her now six-year-old daughter was not likely to be persecuted in Nigeria due to having Hirschprungs disease. The condition is a rare one affecting bowel movements which, without appropriate treatment, can result in swollen abdomens.
The mother also argued the child was at risk of rape, sexual abuse and female genital mutilation. The tribual denied any errors in how the decision was reached.
Having considered the arguments and law Mr Justice Eagar said it was “inappropriate” for the tribunal member to make her own medical judgment, based on a single viewing of the child, of a “severe and complicated medical condition”. It was open to the RAT to get a report from a paediatrician but she did not do so, the judge said. That in itself was sufficient to quash the decision.
