Namibian high court dismisses same-sex couple’s plea for their twin daughters

By Molaole Montsho On Apr 19, 2021

The couple’s twin baby daughters, born through surrogacy, have been denied permission to enter Namibia.

Wooden court gavel — The twin babies Maya and Paula were born by surrogacy to Namibian Phillip Lühl and his husband, Guillermo Delgado, on March 13 in Durban, South Africa. The high court has upheld a decision by the Ministry of Home Affairs to deny the twins entry into Namibia.

RUSTENBURG, April 19 (ANA) – The Windhoek High Court has dismissed an application by a same-sex couple to allow their twin daughters born through surrogacy to enter Namibia.

According to Namibian media reports, Judge Thomas Masuku dismissed the application on Monday.

Daily newspaper Namibian Sun on its social media account reported that Masuku upheld the decision of the Ministry of Home Affairs to deny the twins entry into country.

Maya and Paula were born via surrogacy to Namibian Phillip Lühl and his husband, Guillermo Delgado, on March 13 in Durban, South Africa.

Lühl filed an application in the high court last month, asking the court to order Minister of Home Affairs Frans Kapofi to issue emergency travel certificates or to allow him to enter Namibia with the two babies, born through surrogacy in South Africa.

In his affidavit, Lühl argued that he cannot leave South Africa without his twin daughters as he has no one to leave them with.

He said Kapofi was infringing on his right to return to Namibia by trapping him in South Africa.

Kapofi requested DNA results as proof of paternity. He said Lühl and the twins should be subjected to a paternity test to remove any doubt pertaining to paternity.

Lühl and Delgado got married in South Africa in 2014.

According to local newspaper Informante, Lühl and Delgado, a Mexican, appear on the South African-issued birth certificates as the rightful parents.

Gay Nation, an online magazine for the gay community, reported last month that the surrogacy agreement between the couple and the woman who agreed to carry the babies was approved and confirmed by the high court of South Africa in November 2017.

In terms of that agreement, the children born through surrogacy were declared to be the children of Lühl and Delgado from the moment of their birth.

The couple are also still fighting for their son, born in 2019 through a surrogate in South Africa, to get Namibian citizenship.

– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher