Ruling not to send failed asylum seekers still in force

By Tichaona Sibanda
13 April 2006

Failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers will not be deported back to Zimbabwe despite Wednesday’s Court of Appeal judgement which ruled in favour of the Home Office.

The British government won its appeal against a ruling which had prevented the Home Office from deporting failed asylum seekers back home. The Home Office had stopped removing them six months ago amid valid claims that they could be persecuted or tortured if they were deported.

Yvonne Mahlunge, a lawyer with the Zimbabwe Association, explained that the ruling did not give the Home Office the right to start deportations because no one from the government has challenged the existing ruling blocking removals to Zimbabwe.

‘The Home Office secretary did not challenge the fact that asylum seekers would face persecution in Zimbabwe, so that decision still stands,’ said Mahlunge.

The judgement in the Court of Appeal comes after more than a year of bitter legal battles between Zimbabwean asylum seekers and ministers. The arguments were based on the fact that claiming asylum in the UK endangered Zimbabweans, meaning the British government was obliged to protect them even if some of the applications were without merit.

Wednesday’s Court of Appeals ruling said the tribunal had ‘erred in law’ and ordered it to reconsider test cases involving two Zimbabweans who can only be identified as AA and LK.

The Home Office argument regarding the case was that AA’s asylum application was without merit as he had even failed to explain what the abbreviation MDC meant and therefore was clearly not under threat because of his political beliefs.

The government challenged the fact that they were unable to remove unfounded asylum claimants and the ruling on Wednesday takes the case back to the tribunal to reconsider both cases using fresh evidence.

About 15 000 Zimbabweans have sought asylum in the UK in the last five years. Only a few hundred have been granted refugee status.