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UK: Kurdish asylum seeker wins first stage
of battle over his private parts
29.11.2008
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November 29, 2008
LONDON, UK,— An asylum seeker who had his
private parts measured in a bid to establish his age
- at the cost of the taxpayer - has won a key
victory in his bid to be declared a child.
The Kurdish teenager, who arrived in the UK from
Iraqi Kurdistan in the back of a lorry in February
this year and can only be named as A, insists that
he is just 16 and was born in November 1992.
However the London Borough of Croydon,www.ekurd.net
the local authority in
whose care he is, say he is 18.
The boy’s age is crucial, because if he is 16 he
will be entitled to welfare payments because he is a
vulnerable child.
It could also have an impact on his claim for
asylum.
During a judicial review challenge against a Croydon
Council ruling that he is 18, lawyers for the
legally-aided youngster said that medical evidence
supports his claim that he is 16.
And barrister Christopher Buttler, for A, said the
local authority were wrong to ignore a medical
report filed on his behalf by an experienced
paediatrician, Diana Birch.
In June this year, the expert said that A was around
15-and-a-half years, basing her conclusions on his
sexual, physical and mental development, his
physical growth and his teeth.
Among the factors which Dr Birch took into account
was how hairy A is, how deep his voice is - and the
size of his genitalia.
However, in October 2008, Croydon ruled that A was
17 - meaning that they believe he turned 18 earlier
this month - and rejected Dr Birch's findings Today,
at London's High Court, Judge Stephen Morris QC said
Croydon had acted "unreasonably" in coming to the
conclusion it did.
"The reasons given by the local authority were
unsound", said Judge Morris, who said its rejection
of Dr Birch's report was "irrational".
"Had Croydon given proper consideration to Dr
Birch's report,www.ekurd.net
the outcome of the
decision may well have been different," added the
judge.
Judge Morris added that Croydon had relied on a
March assessment of A, but the reasoning in that
report was "relatively superficial" and its
conclusion "vague".
Granting the application for judicial review, Judge
Morris said Croydon should now reconsider A's claim
to be a vulnerable child.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
yourlocalguardian co.uk
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