Victim:

Ms. Mo Zhengfang and her daughter You Minghui, residents of London, UK

Location:

The Chinese Embassy in London, UK

You Minghui and her mom           Minghui’s registration was marked ‘Cancelled’

Description:

When You Minghui was only five months old, on June 30, 2000, my husband, Minghui and I were going to go back to Britain after a one-week vacation in Geneva. To our great shock, we were told at the Geneva airport that our daughter could not go back to Britain with just a UK birth certificate. Though we had taken her into Switzerland with just a birth certificate, she couldn't go back without a UK visa. Fortunately, with the help of a friend who could speak English, French and German, we learned that we needed to get our daughter registered on our passports at the Chinese Embassy in Berne, Switzerland; and then apply for a UK visa at the UK Embassy in Switzerland. At that time, my daughter had come down with a fever and rashes all over.

At the Chinese Embassy in Berne, we explained our situation to the registrar, and provided all the relevant documents. After waiting one hour, we were told that they could not register my daughter, and we should register at Chinese Embassy in London. Even though we explained that we could not go back to Britain without a visa for Minghui, the answer was "You can go back the way you came here!";

We had no choice but go back to Geneva airport, and sought help from airline staff. After the staff explained our situation to UK immigration authorities, we finally got a permit to enter Britain.

On July 24, 2000, my husband and I went to the Chinese Embassy in London to register our daughter. We submitted all relevant materials, including my passport. The Embassy workers said my daughter would be registered as an accompanying child on my passport in three days. However, on August 24, 2000 when we went to the embassy to pick up my passport, one staff named Du told me that I had to write a confession about Falun Gong, which would be sent to China's Ministry of Public Security for approval. Unless it was approved, my daughter could not be registered. We were also told that our daughter could never be registered or get her own passport if we refused to give up Falun Gong. I asked them to return my passport to me so that I could apply for an extension to my student visa, which was soon to expire at the end of September 2000. But I was told this had to be approved of by the Ministry of Public Security, too! As a result, my daughter did not have a nationality, and my passport had also been confiscated.

Completely helpless, I had to ask for help from my MP and the UK Foreign Office, telling them our story. The MP was quick to help. But only on September 15, 2000, 44 days after we applied for the registration, did I get back my passport. To our surprise, we found that they had registered my daughter on August 1, but later cancelled it.

In two years, the story of our daughter born stateless has received a lot of attention from the British public, with many media organizations reporting about it. Also, the UK parliament and Ministry of Foreign Affairs have exerted pressure on the Chinese embassy. On May 22, 2004, I finally obtained my daughter’s registration from the Chinese Embassy in London.