Our Legal Director Nicola Burgess tells the story of her client M, one of the child refugees forced to start a new life without their families after finding sanctuary in the UK
M, his mum and younger brother had all been forced to flee their home in Eritrea for political reasons, and he was constantly preoccupied with the thought of his loved ones coming to harm in the refugee camp where they were staying in Sudan. At each appointment M would tell me the horror stories he had heard about the camp; people were routinely rounded up and forced to return to Eritrea where their lives would be in danger, women were raped and the vulnerable were targeted and their organs harvested.
The worry for his family impacted on every part of M’s life. He began to struggle at school, and he stopped going out and socialising with friends. He was developing into a depressed recluse, not the outgoing, bright and articulate young adult he should have been. M was desperate to bring his family to safety – a…