Zimbabwe - Forced Returns Protests
posted: 30/10/2009
Refugee and HIV organisations were among those angered and concerned by Home Office ministers saying that Zimbabwe is now safe enough to resume the forcible return of thousands of refused asylum seekers.
Bad timing?
The announcement by the immigration minister, Phil Woolas (MP for the NW constituency of Oldham East and Saddleworth), came just as the UN's monitor on torture was forcibly expelled from Harare, and when Amnesty International warned that the country was "on the brink of sliding back into violence".
Woolas told MPs that he was encouraging Zimbabweans whose asylum application in Britain had been rejected to return home voluntarily by including a £2,000 cash payment in a total repatriation package worth up to £6,000. But he also said the UK Border Agency was resuming work on a programme of enforced returns to Zimbabwe.
"We have always expected those not to be in need of protection to return home. We prefer these individuals to return voluntarily, and the enhancements to the assisted voluntary return scheme will support this," he said. "But where they choose not to do so, we are bound to take steps over time to enforce the law."
George House Trust comment
That’s perhaps more bluff and bluster, for the benefit of the press and some sections of the public, to make him seem to be tougher on returns. His formal statement says something less scary – the key sentence is:
“The UK Border Agency will therefore be starting work over the autumn on a process aimed at normalising our returns policy to Zimbabwe, moving towards resuming enforced returns progressively as and when the political situation develops.”
The key words we take comfort from are here (our italics) “moving towards resuming enforced returns progressively as and when the political situation develops.” So he means the political situation is not yet right to restart forced returns. Any government that rushes to resume forced returns to Zimbabwe faces the prospect of a second defeat in the courts.
Zimbaweans are the largest nationality group among expatriate Africans with HIV in the UK, which is why this policy change is significant. Well over 650 Zimbabweans diagnosed with HIV are living in NW England.
High Court ended returns in 2006
Forcible returns to Zimbabwe were suspended in September 2006, when high court judges ruled that those who could not demonstrate their loyalty to Robert Mugabe's regime would face persecution on their return. It is thought there are more than 10,000 refused asylum seekers from Zimbabwe in Britain. Only recently more than 2,000 fled to the UK during Zimbabwe's elections in 2008.
The Home Office statement says there have been "positive changes" in Zimbabwe in the past six months, including less indiscriminate violence, more basic commodities are available and the economy and schools have improved since the formation of the unity government. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), is prime minister under President Mugabe.
Refugee groups say only 89 people went back to Zimbabwe under the British government's voluntary returns programme between January and August.
Safety claims ridiculed
The Refugee Council said the Home Office's judgment on life in Zimbabwe was ludicrous. "In the past few days allegations of arrest, intimidation and harassment of supporters of the MDC and of human rights defenders have been widely reported," said the council's chief executive, Donna Covey. "Our government is showing a cavalier attitude to the safety of refugees who have stood up for democracy and human rights. After the farcical attempts to return Iraqis and Afghans in recent weeks against UN advice, it is of great concern that the government are now considering returns to Zimbabwe."
Sandy Buchan, of Refugee Action, also said the move was premature: "We still see more Zimbabweans asking for help and advice than any other single nationality, and many are terrified of returning to their country." And Patson Muzuwa, of the Zimbabwe Association said "It is very premature of them to think of forced removals," adding that Woolas's statement was intended to pave the way for a programme of forcible removals last attempted in 2004 and 2005.
Source
UN torture investigator refused entry to Zimbabwe
Minister's Statement on changing the policy on returning people to Zimbabwe
Changes to the voluntary returns package
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