Africa-Press – Namibia. THE decision of the High Court to grant citizenship to Yona, a son of a Namibian citizen Phillip Lühl, who was born via surrogacy in March 2019, will be challenged after the Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security approached the Supreme Court to have the judgment overruled.
Yona’s South African birth certificate listed Lühl and his Mexican husband Guillermo Delgado as his parents, which Namibian authorities refused to accept in the absence of a DNA test proving that the two-year-old is a blood relative of the Namibian parent.
On 13 October, judge Thomas Masuku, granted Namibian citizenship to Yona by way of descent, but the judgment was not taken well by the ministry. Executive Director in the Ministry Etienne Maritz said after studying the judgment outcome, they have decided to appeal the ruling of the High Court, as the ministry believes the High Court erred in law and in facts.
Maritz stated that they are exercising their right to appeal in accordance with the law. Gay marriages are not recognised in the country, and even though homosexuality is itself not illegal, Namibia has a rarely enforced sodomy law dating back to its period of South African rule.
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