UK: Case emphasises importance of considering childrens' human rights in immigration decisions

Summary: A Chinese woman who had four children in Britain after being turned down for asylum claims she cannot be sent home because of communist state's one child policy, as she fears her children will be taken away by Chinese authorities.

[3 October 2011] - Xiu Fang Zhang, 34, claims that forcing her to return to China would violate her and the children's human rights.

She came to Britain in 2003, and despite being refused asylum shortly after her arrival, has remained here ever since, giving birth to four children in her eight years in the country. 

But Mrs Zhang, of, Newport, South Wales, was refused leave to remain in the UK earlier this year, meaning she and her family are under threat of deportation to China. 

Arguing her children could be taken from her if she is sent back to her homeland, Mrs Zhang has mounted a judicial review challenge to the Home Office's decision at the High Court in London. 

Judge James Dingemans QC told the court Mrs Zhang flew into Gatwick airport in September 2003, but her asylum application was rejected after claims she was from the persecuted Falun Gong religious minority were disbelieved.

During her years in the UK, she met her partner with whom she has four children; a four-year-old boy, a two-year-old girl, and twins, born in April this year.

Mrs Zhang applied for indefinite leave to remain in Britain under the Home Office's Legacy Scheme, which gives preferential treatment to immigrants who have lived in the UK for long periods, but her application was refused earlier this year.

Lawyers for Mrs Zhang, who argue she now has a network of friends and an established life in the UK, say that since the refusal of her application she has been terrified her children could be taken away from her if she is forced to return to China. 

They told the High Court China's communist government only allows one-child families in urban areas, with parents in some rural areas permitted to have two children.

The court also heard claims the Home Office should have given more consideration to the human rights of the four children when processing the application for leave to remain.

Judge Dingemans has now ruled her case "arguable" and granted her permission to have the Home Office's decision judicially reviewed at the High Court later this year.

He said recent judgements have emphasised the importance of considering childrens' human rights in immigration decisions, adding: "It seems to me that this case does cross the threshold of arguability, and for that reason I grant permission."

 

Further Information

pdf: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8803800/Chinese-mot...

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