Updates, commentary, training and advice on immigration and asylum law

Tribunal orders Home Office to arrange DNA test for Yezidi children at Calais

THANKS FOR READING

Older content is locked

A great deal of time and effort goes into producing the information on Free Movement, become a member of Free Movement to get unlimited access to all articles, and much, much more

TAKE FREE MOVEMENT FURTHER

By becoming a member of Free Movement, you not only support the hard-work that goes into maintaining the website, but get access to premium features;

  • Single login for personal use
  • FREE downloads of Free Movement ebooks
  • Access to all Free Movement blog content
  • Access to all our online training materials
  • Access to our busy forums
  • Downloadable CPD certificates

Two children in the Calais camp applied to join their mother in the UK, who had been recognised as a refugee in 2010. There were both from the Yezidi minority in Iraq. She had not mentioned her children when she applied for asylum and the Home Office refused to accept the children were hers but also refused to arrange a DNA test, which would have resolved the issue beyond doubt.

The official headnote:

(i) In making a decision whether to accept a “take charge” request under the Dublin Regulation, the Secretary of State is obliged to take all material considerations into account and to comply with the “Tameside” duty of enquiry.
(ii) The Dublin Regulation and its sister instrument, Commission Regulation (EC) 1550/2003, subject the Secretary of State to duties of enquiry, investigation and evidence gathering. The discharge of these duties will be factually and contextually sensitive and is governed by the principle that the Secretary of State is obliged to take reasonable steps.
(iii) In a context where there are successive “take charge” requests and successive decisions in response thereto, the aforementioned duties apply throughout.
(iv) The aforementioned duties may also arise via the procedural dimension of Article 8 ECHR, under Section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998.
(v) The principles rehearsed above may give rise to a remedy comprising a mandatory order requiring the Secretary of State to take all reasonable steps and use her best endeavours in certain specified respects.

Source: MK & IKR, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Calais; Dublin Regulation – investigative duty) (IJR) [2016] UKUT 231 (IAC) (24 May 2016)


Interested in refugee law? You might like Colin's book, imaginatively called "Refugee Law" and published by Bristol University Press.

Communicating important legal concepts in an approachable way, this is an essential guide for students, lawyers and non-specialists alike.

Relevant articles chosen for you
Picture of Colin Yeo

Colin Yeo

Immigration and asylum barrister, blogger, writer and consultant at Garden Court Chambers in London and founder of the Free Movement immigration law website.

Comments