5 JUNE 2006
LONDON -THE battle between Zimbabwean asylum seekers in the UK and the Home Office returns to the courts next month following the April decision overturning an earlier one by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT) blocking the deportation of Zimbabweans.
The Home Office won its appeal at the Royal Courts of Justice against the ruling which prevented the UK from deporting failed Zimbabwean asylum-seekers back to Africa. The Court of Appeal ruled that the cases must be reconsidered by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT). And the case has been set down for the 3rd of July.
The tribunal blocked removals to Harare in October 2005, saying they faced interrogation by the security services and that the lives of those being returned could be in danger. The Refugee Council and the Zimbabwe Association, some of the human rights groups fighting for the asylum seekers, were devastated by the ruling. They said it was clear Zimbabwe was a very dangerous place.
"We are now in the absurd situation where the issue is pinging back and forth between higher and lower courts,” Refugee Council spokesman Tim Finch said. "A sort of legal hall of mirrors where we don't really get any clarity, yet it is clear that Zimbabwe is a very dangerous place.”
The Court of Appeal judges ruled that the AIT had "erred in law" last October when it ruled against removals to Zimbabwe.
The original decision said that Zimbabweans, who can only be identified as AA and LK, would be at risk of harm if they were returned to President Robert Mugabe's regime. Their cases were used as test cases in the whole asylum battle between Zimbabweans in the UK and the Home Office.
The Home Office immediately challenged the decision, saying it had a right to remove unfounded asylum claimants.
Campaigners claimed ministers had put removal targets ahead of safety.
Some 15,000 Zimbabweans sought asylum between 2000 and 2005, with a few hundred granted refugee status. Approximately 300 Zimbabweans were returned to the country before the courts halted removals last October. Just as the Home Office appeal against the AIT ruling left thousands of cases in limbo, the continued court battles will also result in many cases remaining on the shelves.
Thousands of Zimbabwean asylum seekers are said to be living in poverty as they wait for their cases to be dealt with. Kate Hoey, the Vauxhall MP (Labour), has been at the forefront of fighting to have the British government allowing failed asylum seekers from Zimbabwe the right to work in the UK. She says this will make sure they manage to look after themselves, pay taxes and improve themselves as they wait for a new Zimbabwe. Her campaign is now being hampered by the court battles. Campaigners and charities have since complained that many of those affected have had no support and have been living on hand-outs from well-wishers.
Source: www.zimbabwejournalists.com
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