Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 February 2019 to Question 219410, what assessment he has made of whether it is safe to deport Zimbabwean nationals who have been unsuccessful in claims for asylum since April 2018.

Our Country Policy and Information Note of April 2018 sets out the general position and that all asylum claims are carefully considered on their individual merits.

Since April 2018, we have been monitoring the situation in Zimbabwe. However, caselaw has established that a state of civil war and/or civil unrest is not enough, in itself, to provide for a grant of asylum. A per-son needs to show a risk above and beyond those general inherent risks.

We are currently in the process of updating the Country Policy and Information Note, incorporating recommendations from a review commissioned by the Independent Advisory Group on Country Information. This will be published in due course. Where additional information is needed, decision makers can ask for bespoke research to be undertaken on a case by case basis.

Where a person is unsuccessful in claims for asylum, they are – by definition – considered not to be at risk on return. Removal is only enforced when we and the courts conclude that it is safe to do so, with a safe route of return.