Government urged to assess Zimbabwe asylum policy
A senior MEP has called for the Government to rethink its policy of making failed asylum seekers from Zimbabwe return to the authoritarian state.
Labour’s Richard Howitt has questioned the Government’s claims that it is safe for asylum seekers to return to Robert Mugabe’s regime.
Mr Howitt told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “What the Government has said is that there are no specific reports of abuse against people who have been returned since the ban was lifted in November.
“But when you compare that with what the International Crisis Group talking about one of the highest torture rates in the world, endemic state violence, with what Amnesty International says about deliberate political killings, physical assaults, acts of torture against the MDC and opposition within the country, I don’t think we can have any real confidence that those returned will be safe.”
Mr Howitt, who speaks on foreign affairs and human rights for Labour MEPs and is vice chairman of the human rights sub committee of the European parliament, was joined by Shadow Foreign Secretary Liam Fox who called for a governmental review of its policy for failed asylum seekers.
Mr Fox demanded consistency from the Government, noting that Labour was claiming it was safe in Zimbabwe, while foreign secretary Jack Straw condemned Mr Mugabe’s bulldozing of houses, leaving hundreds homeless.
In the first quarter of 2005, 95 Zimbabweans were forcibly removed from the UK, while another 104 are currently being detained awaiting possible deportation.
