Home Office Response: Country Information Report And Returns Arrangements Regarding UK Based Asylum Claimants From Zimbabwe
alicemuzira
Further to a Freedom of Information Request made on 24 November 2017, by Response of 20 December 2017, the Home Office have briefly responded as follows:
“Thank you for your e-mail of 24 November 2017, in which you ask for information about country information and returns arrangements regarding asylum seekers from Zimbabwe. Your request has been handled as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
In response to your specific questions:
Have Home Office Caseworkers currently been instructed to pause in their consideration and decision-making of Zimbabwean protection claims pending publication of a relevant Country Information Policy Note in relation to those opposed to the Zimbabwean Government?
No.
Where internal Home office consideration of protection claims continues, which Country Information Notes are Home Office Caseworkers taking into account when considering claims from Zimbabwean nationals fearing return to Zimbabwe on account of opposition to the Zimbabwean Government?
When will a relevant updated Country Information Note be published by the Home Office in relation to consideration of protection claims from those opposed to the Zimbabwean Government?
We are planning to update this CPIN early in the new year.
Has agreement been reached between the UK Government and the Zimbabwean Government in relation to whether the Zimbabwean authorities will agree to issue Emergency Travel Documents for non-consenting undocumented Zimbabwean returnees who are without valid national passports?
No. The UK government has not yet sought to discuss nor review the emergency travel document process we currently have in place with the government of Zimbabwe”.
It is clear that in relation to claims from those opposed to the Zimbabwean government, the relevant Country Information Report which Home office Caseworkers are currently taking into account is still the Country policy and information note: opposition to the government, Zimbabwe, January 2017. The Information Report is however to be updated early in the coming year. Meanwhile, negative decisions affecting particular claimants will be expected to incorporate the events of November 2017 and currently in Zimbabwe: the Home Office can have regard to other reliable sources for current background information.
It is also important to note that it is current Home Office policy to take removal action in relation to Zimbabwean failed claimants as there is no policy against enforced removals to Zimbabwe. Currently however, failed asylum claimants who do not agree to return to Zimbabwe and are without valid Zimbabwean national passports or valid travel documents still seem in practice irremovable.
