Britain grants
reprieve in planned deportation of HIV-positive family

Britain halted plans to deport a mother and father who are HIV-positive on Tuesday after pleas from children's rights advocates who said sending the asylum seekers back to Malawi could leave their 7-year-old son an orphan.

Caroline Manchinjili, who is also epileptic, was afraid that if she returned to Malawi, she and her husband would not get treatment, and that if they died, their son, Dumisani, would be left alone.

''In Malawi, there is death for people with HIV,'' she told the Associated Press in a telephone interview from an immigration detention center in Britain.

''No one will look after us. Everyone will run away from us. This is just the end of our world.''

The reprieve is temporary, and lawyers representing the family will ask a judge to review the case in Britain's high court on Wednesday, said a spokeswoman for Barnardo's, a children's charity that has been advocating that the family remain in the country.

Britain's Home Office, which is responsible for immigration, does not comment on specific cases and would not say why or even if the family had been granted a reprieve.

Before the deportation was halted, the Home Office said in a statement that serious medical conditions are taken into account when evaluating asylum claims.

''We are not convinced that a special dispensation should be made for victims of HIV, as this could create inconsistencies in how we treat individuals with other serious illnesses,'' the statement said.

Manchinjili said the family's home in Malawi had been burned down, and they claimed asylum because they were at odds with their government and faced political persecution.

Martin Narey, the chief executive of Barnardo's, said the issue was not whether they should be granted asylum. They were simply interested in protecting Dumisani.

There was no other family to look after Dumisani in Malawi, Narey said. Dumisani has so far tested negative, but because of his family history there is a 30% to 40% chance he has HIV, Narey said.

''We are relieved that Caroline and her family will not face deportation (on Tuesday), but the future for this traumatized and vulnerable family is still completely uncertain,'' Narey said.

In the past, the Home Office has allowed people with serious medical conditions to remain in the country, said Jill Rutter, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research, a center-left London think tank.

But recently, there has been questioning about the burden migration places on public services, particularly health care.

Rutter said that has caused the Home Office to ''tighten up'' on who is allowed to stay.

Narey said he believes there are about 20 other children in the same situation as Dumisani. Rutter said ''the numbers are quite small, and I think we have a moral obligation to provide health care for them.'' (Jennifer Quinn, AP)