UI2023002249 & UI2023002252

Pursuant to rule 14 of the Tribunal Procedure (Upper Tribunal) Rules 2008, the Appellants are granted anonymity. No-one shall publish or reveal any information, including the name or address of the Appellants, likely to lead members of the public to identify the Appellants. Failure to comply with this order could amount to a contempt of court .

      The Appellants appeal against the decision of First-tier Tribunal Judge Abebrese dated 12 May 2023 ("the Decision") dismissing the Appellants' appeals against the Respondent's decision dated 25 October 2022 refusing their protection and human rights claims.

      The Appellants are from Sierra Leone. They are a mother and minor daughter. The protection claim centres on the Appellants' assertion that the Second Appellant will be subjected to FGM on return to Sierra Leone. Judge Abebrese rejected that claim as not credible and found that in any event the Appellants could return to another part of Sierra Leone away from the family members who they claim to fear. He also rejected the human rights claim based on the Appellants' Article 8 rights.

      The Appellants appeal on various grounds relating to the findings made by the Judge which are said to be inadequately reasoned or are based on misdirection in law. However, the primary ground is that the Judge has made an error of fact amounting to an error of law in stating that the Appellants were not legally represented at the hearing and were willing to proceed without a legal representative at that hearing. There is a witness statement from the solicitor who represented them at the appeal hearing.

      Permission to appeal was granted by First-tier Tribunal Judge Mills on 22 June 2023 in the following terms: