Eric is a Congolese boy who lost touch with his mother when he was four years old. Later he found out that she had been in prison for some time. At that time in Congo, a silent but destructive war took place, in which a lot of other countries were also involved and in which more than a million people were killed. When Eric was twelve years old, he found his mother again in the Netherlands. She had in the meantime obtained refugee status and, afterwards, the Dutch nationality. Eric, however, was not allowed to stay with his mother, because he had arrived in the Netherlands without asking permission from the Dutch embassy beforehand. That is why they wanted him to return to Congo to ask the Dutch embassy for permission to return to the Netherlands.

Defence for Children International has supported Eric’s lawyer in the legal procedure to let him stay in the Netherlands and let him enjoy his right to family life with his mother. The judges did not take Defence for Children’s arguments into consideration. After more than a year, when all Eric’s legal remedies had been exhausted, Defence for Children decided to bring Eric’s case under the attention of the press. At the same time, two members of parliament were lobbying for Eric’s case with the State Secretary. There was an item on the television about Eric’s case, large advertisements were placed in newspapers the Trouw and the Volkskrant and a website was launched on which the general public could express its concerns about Eric’s predicament. More than five thousand letters were sent to the State Secretary. At the end of the campaign, on 28 March 2007, hundreds of children and five members of parliament tried to break the world record of keepie-uppie of children’s rights on the square in the Hague.

The day, that was meant to be a day of demonstration, turned out to be a children’s rights festival, because the State Secretary had announced the day before that Eric would be given a residence permit. She also announced to change her policy on this subject. In October 2008 she officially announced the new policy. School children who have spent at least three years in the Netherlands and want to stay here with their family, do no longer have to ask permission beforehand from the Dutch embassy in their country of origin. The State Secretary considers the return to their country of origin to be too aggravating for children. In the future, she will also first consider whether deporting someone will violate article 8 ECHR (the right to family and private life) before asking them to return to their country of origin to ask permission from the Dutch embassy over there.