* Published 8 October, 12:40 BST
A Palestinian refugee has taken the Home Office to Court to challenge its refusal for her parents and siblings to join her in Scotland.
Hadil Louz, 32 lives in Broughty-Ferris with her husband Ibrahim, and their eight-month-old Laila.
She has been trying for years to reunite with parents and siblings. Earlier this year, she applied to the Home Office to allow them to come to the UK.
The Home Office denied the application, saying that the family did not demonstrate “circumstances so compelling as to make it exceptional”.
Ms Louz has now appealed against this decision in Scottish courts.
Campaigners also call for the introduction a scheme of family reunification for Palestinians similar to the ones that were introduced previously for people fleeing Afghanistan or the war in Ukraine.
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Published on 12 March
* Published 15 December 2020
Ms Louz is a PHD scholar at St Andrews University. She has been in the UK for over a year.
She has protection status in the UK as a refugee but plans to apply next year for indefinite leave of residence, which will make her status permanent.
She told BBC Scotland News she was from a “normal family, living and working in Gaza, with a simple lifestyle.”
“My siblings were in high school or university.” They lived a peaceful existence, even if war interrupted it.
After the attack by Hamas against Israel on 7 October, a year-long conflict followed.
Ms Louz raised PS40,000 earlier this year on the GoFundMe website to pay for the evacuation of four members of her own family from Gaza to Egypt via the Rafah border crossing.
Her parents are currently in the UAE where her father receives humanitarian treatment for cancer lymphoma, provided by the government. He can stay in the UAE while undergoing treatment, but will need to return to Egypt once it is over.
Five of her siblings live as undocumented migrants in Egypt, and her two other sisters are in the Jabalia Refugee Camp in Gaza because she didn’t have enough money to secure their passage.
The Home Office application is only for her four unmarried brothers and sisters in Egypt.
Ms Louz stated: “The only way I could help them was to find a safe place for them. That was my first priority. They all depend on me. I am the only person who can help them.
“Safety does not mean being safe from missiles or bombardments.
“It is very difficult to be deprived of my right to be surrounded by family members who are safe and healthy.”
She applied to the Home Office earlier this year for what is called family reunification, in order to allow her parents and siblings join her in the UK.
This scheme is only available to a spouse or dependent child. In most cases, siblings, parents of adult children, and extended family members are not eligible.
According to the Home Office, they can also be granted refugee protection if they are in “exceptional circumstances”.
Andy Sirel of human rights law firm JustRightScotland said that he found the Home Office’s conduct with the family “unfair and sometimes unlawful”.
He said: “They told her (Ms Louz), that her family’s situation was not exceptional and that their suffering in Gaza was not above that of other Palestinians. This is not only a lawless test, but it’s also inhumane.
The Scottish Refugee Council calls for the introduction of family reunification schemes for Palestinians. These schemes are similar to those introduced after the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 2021, and the outbreaks of war in Ukraine 2022.
The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme permits those who have been evacuated to the UK, to bring their parents and siblings over in “exceptional circumstances”.
The Ukrainian Family Scheme, that closed to new applicants in early this year, allowed eligible Ukrainians to join their family members in the UK up to three years.
Sabir Zazai said that the UK government has the opportunity to introduce an expanded definition of family and a family scheme.
He said that “in many cultures, family is more than just spouses or children.”
“I’m originally from Afghanistan. My culture values looking after my father, mother, sisters and brothers and my other family members.
“We believe it takes the entire society to work together when people are forced from their homes and their lives are shattered to help them rebuild in safety and dignity.
“Refugee Protection is not about politics; it’s about human decency.”
The Home Office stated that it has a long-standing practice of not commenting on specific cases.
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