The Irish High Court in A (a minor) v Refugee Appeals Tribunal has held that the Irish Refugee Appeals Tribunal did not make a balanced assessment in deciding to deport a six year old Nigerian girl, a member of the Yoruba tribe who was at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM). The Court held that her constitutional right to the protection of her person was thereby infringed.
The girl was born in Ireland in 2005 but is not an Irish national, and her mother's application for asylum had been rejected. Hogan J stated that the fact the mother's application had failed did not mean that the girl's application would fail too, especially given the greater risk of FGM to young girls than adult females.
It was alleged that the woman and her daughter were at risk from the woman's father-in-law as he had threatened to kidnap her and carry out FGM on her and the girl. Hogan J found that the risk posed by the father-in-law was not credible and held that the tribunal were correct in refuting this part of the woman's account. However, Hogan J held that as the girl was from the Yoruba tribe, the risk of FGM being performed on her was extremely high. He found that "the tribunal member had not sufficiently discharged the State's obligations under 40.3.2 to protect and vindicate the applicant's constitutional rights." He accordingly quashed the Tribunal decision and sent the application for fresh consideration.
Click here to view a piece in the Irish Times on the case.
Meanwhile the Irish Refugee Council has launched Ireland's seventh independent community law centre. The primary aims of the law centre "are to meet unmet legal need in a strategic manner and to promote and deliver early legal advice and representation to those in the early stages of the asylum process." The law centre employs two solicitors and two legal officers.