UK to decide on failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers next week

By Lance Guma
30 June 2006

An immigration and asylum tribunal will on Monday decide the fate of thousands of failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers living in the United Kingdom. This is being done under the ‘AA’ test case. At the core of the case is whether the Home Office should grant blanket immunity to all failed asylum seekers irrespective of circumstances or deport those whose claims are not genuine. The Home Office won its appeal at the Royal Courts of Justice, against a ruling which had prevented them deporting failed Zimbabwean asylum-seekers. Harris Nyatsanza a spokesperson for the United Network of Detained Zimbabweans says after their initial loss at the Court of Appeal the matter has been sent back to the tribunal for the reconsideration of fresh evidence that will look at the safety of those who have gone back.

Nyatsanza says the Home Office has documented several cases in which people who have voluntarily gone back under the International Office for Migration (IOM) scheme reported positively on their attempts at re-integration back in Zimbabwe. The Home Office will argue that because of these reports Zimbabwe is a safe country for those with weak claims for asylum. Nyatsanza also explained that the Home Office was not disputing that there were human rights abuses in Zimbabwe but that only genuine government opponents with a well-founded fear of persecution could be granted protection under the Geneva Convention pertaining to refugees. They also argue that those who have had their claims turned down have gone through appeals with independent judges without success.

The matter has drawn heated debate with the Home Office screening policy coming under fire. Some well-known activists, including Crispen Kulinji, came within a whisker of deportation were it not for the efforts of committed rights groups who protested. It is these contradictions in the system that have infuriated critics of the Home Office and calls have grown louder for an overhaul of the process. Nyatsanza says it’s very hard to appeal against a negative decision once it has been made. It is highly unlikely blanket immunity can be granted for all failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers, but what legal experts say is that a reconsideration of evidence regarding the safety of returnees will shape the entire Home Office policy regarding Zimbabwe. A negative decision could very well lead to mass deportations.

Meanwhile a coalition of refugee support groups, including the United Network of Detained Zimbabweans, Zimbabwe Action Group, Zimbabwe Association, Free Zimbabwe, Zimbabwean Women’s Network, Zimbabwe Vigil and others have organised vigils in Bournemouth, Bristol, Birmingham, Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester and Coventry. In Bournemouth local MP Harnett Brook and journalists from the local Daily Echo will attend the Saturday and Sundays vigils there. On Sunday evening all roads lead to the Tribunal Courts at the Royal Courts of Justice in London for an overnight vigil leading to the court case on Monday. Former ZimRights Chairman Nicholas Ndebele who is now heading the Zimbabwe Action Group says they would like the UK government to remember that failed asylum seekers are also real people. He told Newsreel the idea behind the vigils was for Zimbabweans to come forward and show the whole world that the case, ‘concerned real people and not abstract things.’