Government wins right to deport Zimbabweans
Home secretary Charles Clarke welcomed the appeal ruling
Wednesday, 12, Apr 2006 12:00
The government today won its appeal against a court ruling which blocked the deportation of failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers.
The removal of two Zimbabweans was barred by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT) last year, which said they could be placed in danger from president Robert Mugabe's regime if they returned.
The decision had halted all further removals. Now this case and all others will be referred back to the AIT for further consideration.
Home secretary Charles Clarke said he was "pleased" with the ruling, adding: "The removal of failed asylum seekers is fundamental to the integrity of our asylum system."
Although he said the Home Office would not begin enforced removals before the forthcoming AIT hearing, he now expected failed asylum seekers "to return home".
Mr Clarke stressed that the government would not deport anyone to Zimbabwe if "they were at real risk of mistreatment".
However, the Refugee Council said the dangers Zimbabweans face should not be underestimated during the "game of legal ping-pong".
"People fleeing to the UK are seen as traitors, and a conviction for treason in Zimbabwe can carry the death penalty," argued chief executive Maeve Sherlock.
"The original decision was a common sense reaction to what is currently an extremely volatile situation in Zimbabwe. It did not result in masses of Zimbabweans coming to our shores, it merely meant that people could get some temporary respite from the dangers they faced."
Ms Sherlock called for the earlier suspension on deporting failed asylum seekers back to the country – which ended in 2004 after the government concluded the political situation had improved – to be restored.
Shadow home secretary David Davis said by now the government should have in place a "rigorous method of monitoring the continuing safety of those returned to Zimbabwe".
"The government must now show they have done this and not simply wasted the past few months. Otherwise, we will not know the fate of the people sent back and what the Mugabe regime does to them," he insisted.
Charles Clarke claimed the government was strengthening "already good relationships" with NGOs in the country, so it was in the "best possible position to know and take appropriate action" if there were any cases of failed asylum seekers being mistreated.