The High Court has given a Nigerian mother and three minors permission to challenge the refusal of their applications for refugee status after finding an arguable case that the assessment process may have been unfair.
Gladys Ayoka Ogunlade arrived in Ireland on 7 July 2003 with her twin daughters, Simmiat and Sammiat, and her teenage sister, Adeola Yemi Daramola. The children and her sister were included in Ms Ogunlade’s asylum application rather than interviewed separately.
Ms Ogunlade said she was a Christian from the Yoruba ethnic group and feared her in-laws would subject her daughters to female genital mutilation against her wishes. She also alleged threats against one daughter. One of the twins was confirmed by medical reports to have sickle cell disease. A consultant haematologist at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin, reported that she would probably die if returned to Africa.
The Refugee Applications Commissioner recommended against refugee status and found that the claim had no or only minimal basis. The subsequent appeal was determined on the papers without an oral hearing. Tribunal member James Nicholson rejected aspects of Ms Ogunlade’s account as lacking credibility and found that her fear of her daughters being circumcised did not amount to persecution.
The applicants argued that the Tribunal had failed to properly examine country conditions concerning female genital mutilation, had assessed credibility unfairly and had not adequately investigated whether the children faced persecution.
Mr Justice Gilligan stressed that the High Court was not deciding whether their account was true or whether they qualified as refugees. At the leave stage, the question was whether they had an arguable legal challenge.
He held that there was an arguable case that the Tribunal’s credibility assessment lacked the required investigation and that fair procedures may have required an opportunity to address disputed matters orally.
The court also found an arguable case that the alleged stigma and persecution connected with sickle cell disease required proper consideration. Leave was granted to seek declarations, certiorari quashing the refugee refusal and an order remitting the claim to the Tribunal for a new hearing.