Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to ascertain the safety of individuals involuntarily removed on the charter flight to Jamaica, which took place on 6 February 2019, after they reached Jamaica.

The Home Office does not routinely monitor the treatment of people once they are removed from the UK. Returns are only undertaken when the Home Office and courts deem it is safe to do so.

All asylum and human rights claims from Jamaican nationals are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations. Each individual assessment is made against the background of the latest available country of origin information and any relevant caselaw.

Country of origin information is based on evidence taken from a wide range of reliable sources, including reputable media outlets; local, national and international organisations, including human rights organisations; and information from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.Where a person is found not to need protection, they usually have a right of appeal to the courts. The Home Office only seeks to return those whose asylum claim has been unsuccessful. By definition, they do not need protection and not at risk on return.

The UK is under no obligation to monitor the treatment of unsuccessful asylum seekers who have returned to their country of origin. They are, by definition, foreign nationals who have been found as a matter of law not to need the UK’s protection, and who have no legal basis of stay in the UK. It would be inappropriate for the UK to assume any ongoing responsibility for them when they return to their own country.

Should the Home Office receive any specific allegations that a returnee has experienced ill-treatment on return to their country of origin, these would be investigated in partnership with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).