Abraham came to the UK as a child refugee, fleeing indefinite military conscription in Eritrea.
However, despite finding safety, Abraham could not fully adjust to life in the UK. Each day he was consumed by worry for his two younger sisters. They fled Eritrea after him and ended up in a refugee camp in Ethiopia. When conflict later broke out in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, his 16-year-old sister was captured by Eritrean forces and forcibly returned to Eritrea where she remains imprisoned.
Abraham’s younger sister, aged 14, fled to Addis Ababa after her sister was abducted, with no parents or adults to care for her. She continued to live in extremely precarious circumstances, with no formal documents, passport or income and entirely reliant on her brother for emotional support and strangers for food and housing.
In September 2021, RAMFEL lodged a family reunion application to bring Abraham’s sister to the UK. After 10 months of chasing, the government refused the application. We challenged this in court, arguing the government’s decision was flawed and unlawful as it did not properly consider this’ child’s best interests and the exceptional circumstances of the case.
In January 2023, 18 months after we submitted the family reunion application, Abraham’s sister finally had her day in court. The judge allowed the appeal on the spot, recognising how flawed the government’s decision was. Abraham’s sister finally arrived in the UK at the end of May 2023 and the pair are now rebuilding their lives.
