Churches call for asylum justice as UK loses on Zimbabwe deportation case
-16/10/05
As the UK government reels from Fridayís decision by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT) to reject the Home Officeís attempt to deport a Zimbabwean, senior church representatives in Europe are continuing to push for justice for people fleeing ill-treatment.
The man at the centre of the latest high-profile asylum row in Britain, who cannot be named, was adjudged by the tribunal to be at risk of harm if he were returned to President Robert Mugabe’s regime.
He was appealing against the governmentís attempt to deport him after he lost his original asylum claim, having told lies in his interviews.
However, the AIT ruled that the case did not rest on his original eligibility for but on the danger he would face if he was now returned to Zimbabwe.
The case is expected to benefit Ashley McMaster, a young Zimbabwean woman living in Yorkshire, who also faces an imminent threat of deportation.
The Home Secretary came under intense criticism for his department’s inadequate research into conditions in Zimbabwe.
The tribunal stated: “We find the respondent’s lack of interest in the process by which individuals that he returns to Zimbabwe are received by the Zimbabwean authorities rather alarming.”
Following the hearing, Refugee Council spokesperson Tim Finch said that other failed asylum seekers from Zimbabwe could expect a similar positive outcome.
He declared: “The judge could not have been more dismissive of the way the [September 2005] government delegation conducted its work in Zimbabwe. The fact-finding mission just blew up in the Government’s face.”
Kate Hoey MP who chairs an all-party parliamentary group on Zimbabwe, called for an “immediate and complete overhaul” of Home Office procedures.
She commented: “It never made sense for Cabinet ministers to talk about the horror of the Mugabe regime while the Home Office was deporting opposition activists and handing them over to Mugabe’s secret police at Harare airport.”
Meanwhile, six leading church organisations working in the field of migration and asylum have written to the European Union (EU) Justice and Home Affairs Council calling for greater respect towards those fleeing mistreatment.
They are highlighting the increasingly desperate situation faced by people trying to enter the EU in order to escape harm in their own countries.
Calling for a proper judicial investigation into recent events at Ceuta and Melilla, the church organisations declare that the killing of unarmed persons at EU borders is wholly unacceptable.
The six bodies concerned are Caritas Europa, the (Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox) Churchesí Commission for Migrants in Europe, the Commission of the Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of the Europe, the International Catholic Migration Commission, Jesuit Refugee Service Europe and the Quaker Council for European Affairs.
In a recent address to the United Nations, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See’s permanent observer to the UN in Geneva, also said that stigmatising asylum seekers and refugees and detaining them like criminals is dangerous and dehumanising. He called for new policies and more humanitarian resources.
[Also on Ekklesia: Are immigration controls moral? and Guidelines for Churches Offering Asylum Protection]
Churches call for asylum justice as UK loses on Zimbabwe deportation case
-16/10/05
As the UK government reels from Friday’s decision by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT) to reject the Home Office’s attempt to deport a Zimbabwean, senior church representatives in Europe are continuing to push for justice for people fleeing ill-treatment.
The man at the centre of the latest high-profile asylum row in Britain, who cannot be named, was adjudged by the tribunal to be at risk of harm if he were returned to President Robert Mugabe’s regime.
He was appealing against the government’s attempt to deport him after he lost his original asylum claim, having told lies in his interviews.
However, the AIT ruled that the case did not rest on his original eligibility for but on the danger he would face if he was now returned to Zimbabwe.
The case is expected to benefit Ashley McMaster, a young Zimbabwean woman living in Yorkshire, who also faces an imminent threat of deportation.
The Home Secretary came under intense criticism for his department’s inadequate research into conditions in Zimbabwe.
The tribunal stated: “We find the respondent’s lack of interest in the process by which individuals that he returns to Zimbabwe are received by the Zimbabwean authorities rather alarming.”
Following the hearing, Refugee Council spokesperson Tim Finch said that other failed asylum seekers from Zimbabwe could expect a similar positive outcome.
He declared: “The judge could not have been more dismissive of the way the [September 2005] government delegation conducted its work in Zimbabwe. The fact-finding mission just blew up in the Government’s face.”
Kate Hoey MP who chairs an all-party parliamentary group on Zimbabwe, called for an “immediate and complete overhaul” of Home Office procedures.
She commented: “It never made sense for Cabinet ministers to talk about the horror of the Mugabe regime while the Home Office was deporting opposition activists and handing them over to Mugabe’s secret police at Harare airport.”
Meanwhile, six leading church organisations working in the field of migration and asylum have written to the European Union (EU) Justice and Home Affairs Council calling for greater respect towards those fleeing mistreatment.
They are highlighting the increasingly desperate situation faced by people trying to enter the EU in order to escape harm in their own countries.
Calling for a proper judicial investigation into recent events at Ceuta and Melilla, the church organisations declare that the killing of unarmed persons at EU borders is wholly unacceptable.
The six bodies concerned are Caritas Europa, the (Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox) Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe, the Commission of the Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of the Europe, the International Catholic Migration Commission, Jesuit Refugee Service Europe and the Quaker Council for European Affairs.
In a recent address to the United Nations, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See’s permanent observer to the UN in Geneva, also said that stigmatising asylum seekers and refugees and detaining them like criminals is dangerous and dehumanising. He called for new policies and more humanitarian resources.
[Also on Ekklesia: Are immigration controls moral? and Guidelines for Churches Offering Asylum Protection]