28    Can’t Stay. Can’t Go. Refused asylum seekers who cannot be returned SOME OF OUR REFUSED ASYLUM SEEKERS Enaya’s story Enaya is 37 years old and comes from the Occupied Palestinian Territory of Gaza. She came to the UK five years ago with her husband and eight-month-old baby daughter. Her husband was stopped at the airport and returned to Palestine. Subsequently, he was arrested and killed. Enaya and her daughter were refused asylum in the UK. Enaya has approached the Palestinian mission on a number of occasions to get a passport, but an official written response from the Palestinian mission confirmed: “Due to the Oslo Accord between the Palestinian Liberation Organisation and Israel, the Palestinian Mission to the UK does not have authority to issue passports.” Furthermore, Enaya’s daughter has not been registered as a Palestinian citizen. In Palestine, a child’s mother cannot pass on her nationality to her child, only the father can do so by registering the child in Palestine. Unfortunately, this was not done before the family fled, which leaves her daughter stateless. The Palestinian mission has confirmed: “As per your daughter, we cannot assist you in issuing her a birth certificate or any other documents due to the fact that she is not registered in the Palestinian Registry Office, this procedure should be carried out only by her father.” Enaya remarried in the UK, but following the breakdown of her marriage after 18 months, her application for a spouse visa was rejected. She experienced domestic violence when her husband hit her and the child. She went to the police and her husband then kicked her out. Her application for further leave to remain based on domestic violence was also refused because she had not been granted a spouse visa. Enaya is seeking advice on putting in a Stateless application for herself and her daughter who is now five years old. This is a long, drawn-out process and legal aid is not available. Kayla’s story Bisrat’s story Kayla is from Zimbabwe and has been living in the UK for 13 years. She does not have a Zimbabwean passport. She has her birth certificate, but the Zimbabwean embassy says this is not sufficient to obtain travel documents. She needs her ID number, which is issued only in Zimbabwe when an individual becomes 16 years old. When Kayla left Zimbabwe, she was too young to obtain an ID number. She cannot go back now to get one because she does not have a travel document. The Home Office believe Kayla is from South Africa. She is trying to resolve this and has approached the South African High Commission to help establish her citizenship. Six months later, she is still awaiting a response to this request. In 2014, Kayla applied for leave to remain as a stateless person, which was refused. Meanwhile, she is living in limbo. She has no basis to stay in the UK, but she cannot be returned to either Zimbabwe or South Africa. Bisrat left Eritrea in 2008, aged 18 and with no documents. As a child, he lived in many different East African countries. Bisrat was born in Eritrea, but went to live in Ethiopia when he was one year old. During the 1998– 2000 war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, his father was deported back to Eritrea when Bisrat was nine years old. They later went to live in Sudan and Djibouti. Having grown up in Ethiopia, Bisrat speaks Amharic. Because of this, the Home Office do not believe he is Eritrean. Bisrat is trying to establish whether he is entitled to an Ethiopian passport. He has completed the application form and sent this to the Ethiopian embassy. However, six months later, the embassy has not replied or even acknowledged his request. He is too scared to approach the Eritrean embassy. Bisrat is trying to contact an aunt in Eritrea to locate his birth certificate.