Nigerian woman fails in bid to stop deportation
The High Court has dismissed a legal challenge aimed at preventing the deportation of a Nigerian woman who claims her two young daughters are at risk of serious harm due to female genital mutilation (FGM) if returned to Nigeria.
Today Mr Justice Brian McGovern refused an application by Pamela Izevbekhai and her daughters, Naomi (aged 7) and Jemima (aged 6), to set aside the Department of Justice's decision not to consider their claim for "subsidiary protection" here.
The family claim the minister had erred in law by refusing to grant them subsidiary protection or to overturn the deportation orders.
They claim the minister wrongly found that material submitted by them as part of that application was "similar in content" to information submitted on their behalf in 2005 and did not constitute new information.
Counsel on behalf of the minister had opposed the application and argued that the decision not to grant subsidiary protection was correct.
The material included statements from medical practitioners and human rights groups about the practise of FGM in Nigeria, and the family claim it shows the two young children's lives are at serious risk due to FGM.
However in a detailed judgment Mr Justice McGovern held that the family did not disclose a significant change in material circumstances to those that existed at the time of the making of the deportation order in 2005, and that as there was nothing irrational about the minister's decision, there were no grounds for him to exercise his discretion.
