Kurdish family cannot be reunited in UK, court rules

The court of appeal has ruled that a couple who were separated from their two young children on a migrant dinghy in northern France after the mother fell overboard cannot travel to the UK to be reunited with them.

- Diane Taylor

The Kurdish family, including two children aged nine and six, boarded a dinghy near Calais on 19 July, hoping to cross the Channel to the UK to claim asylum after saying they had faced persecution in Turkey.

A fight broke out on the overcrowded boat and the mother fell overboard. The father followed his wife into the water to try to rescue her. But before the couple could get back into the boat, the smugglers pushed it out to sea with the two children on board.

On arrival in the UK the children were taken into care of Kent county council and placed with foster carers. Inquiries were made and several days later the parents made contact with their children via a video call.

The parents began a legal challenge in the hope of securing the right to come to the UK legally to reunite with their children. A judge in the immigration tribunal ruled that the parents should be allowed to do this and that the separation from their parents was causing the children 'distress and psychological damage'.