Stop These Deportations

The United Kingdom’s cruel and hostile asylum environment has given rise to yet another Home Office plan to deport people to Zimbabwe on a flight chartered on 2^nd March 2022.

StatusNow4All^[1] These Walls Must Fall [https://detention.org.uk]., MyRight2Vote, BARAC UK, RAPAR, CCC, Zapu, ROHR and ZHRO^[2]  and other organisations abhors this decision, made in the name of the Home Secretary, Priti Patel. DOWNLOAD the PDF of this Petition NOW

It is immoral:

These are just some of the factors of note in relation to those who are being rounded up for deportation right now:

• Some have been here a long time, as many as twenty years; 
• Some will have had Refugee Leave, such was the compelling case they presented on arrival in UK, but the law, now, allow the Home Office to strip them of this, due to a conviction for particular offending behaviours [para 339 Immigration Rules].
• Deportation Orders are automatically made against people without British or Irish citizenship who have been given a prison sentence of more than a year
• Some of these people will have served their time in prison and on license like any other person with a conviction and have subsequently lived in the community for many years without re-offending – the bulk of these ‘crimes’ are old.
• They have been suffering the psychological damage and indignities of being on indefinite Immigration Bail with ankle tags, curfews, not allowed to work or study, and the ever-present threat of removal.
• Suicide amongst those in this situation is NOT uncommon.

In addition, it is putting these people’s lives in jeopardy:

1. In Zimbabwe: We note that there has been a change of name of the President of Zimbabwe from Robert Mugabe to Emmerson Mnangagwa, but the Political Party ruling the country remains Zanu-PF.
2. We also note that serious concerns are being raised about the human rights record in Zimbabwe and ask what ‘sordid deals’ have been made that allow the UK to send people to a such place where their lives are at significant risk.
3. In its World Report 2022, Human Rights Watch reports: The administration of President Emmerson Mnangagwa failed to take meaningful steps to uphold human rights and ensure justice for serious abuses primarily committed by security forces in 2021.
   1. There has been no accountability for abuses by security forces, including the August 2018 post-election violence, and killings and rape during the January 2019 protests.
   2. Abductions, torture, arbitrary arrests, and other abuses against opposition politicians and activists have not been meaningfully investigated.
   3. The government has yet to establish an independent complaint system—as provided for in Zimbabwe’s Constitution—to receive and investigate public complaints against the security services.
   4. Other human rights concerns include a severe water and sanitation crisis, including during the Covid-19 pandemic, forced evictions, and child marriages.
   5. The United States, United Kingdom, and European Union all renewed targeted sanctions against Zimbabwe for serious human rights abuses by security forces, corruption, and failure to ensure justice for past abuses.  https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2022/country-chapters/zimbabwe
4. See also this report from the late Human Rights Watch reporter Dewa Mavhinga: Critic of Zimbabwe’s Government Fears for His Life: Authorities Should Ensure Apostle Chiwenga’s Safety, Free Speech Rights  https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/22/critic-zimbabwes-government-fears-his-life
5. During the Interactive Dialogue session, UN member States provided extensive recommendations for the improvement of the human rights situation in Zimbabwe and the alignment of the nation’s domestic laws with its international obligations https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1b/k1buxkz3ku also https://www.zlhr.org.zw/?p=2668
   1. Zimbabwe was urged to stop the arbitrary arrest and detention of journalists, students and other HRDs.
   2. Importantly, UN members recommended that Zimbabwe amend the Private Voluntary Organisations Act in consultation with civil society, and abandon the Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill, to open up civic space in the country.
   3. UN member states also recommended the extension of voting rights to prisoners and the Zimbabwean diaspora.
   4. In addition, member states urged Zimbabwe to guarantee the independence of the judiciary and ensure that elections are free and fair.
   5. Significantly, member states recommended that Zimbabwe ratify the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which would criminalise torture in Zimbabwe.
6. Zimbabwe Human Rights Organisation: “Clearly Zanu PF feel so threatened by the voices of reason, that they are retaliating in the only way they know - threats of violence, and corrupt judiciary. Laws do not create morality, and bad laws should be resisted in a [claimed] "democracy" - but it would be naive to use the democracy 'umbrella' when evidently Zimbabwe is a dictatorship, and a Military Dictatorship at that!” https://www.zhro.org.uk/zim-updates/88-why-the-attack-on-traditional-chiefs
7. The injustice of simply ignoring all the complex circumstances of each of these individuals who have fled to the UK to avoid pain, suffering, torture and even death at the hands of the corrupt and illegal Zanu PF party who have ruled by oppression and vote rigging for 42 years in Zimbabwe
   1. Ndumiso Ncube
   2. Thokozani Maya
   3. Syzmczyk Sithole
   4. Victor Nkomo
   5. Sanders Ndlovu
   6. Memory Moyo
   7. And Ebson Chigwedere are just 7 of the 13 or more who are scheduled for removal to Zimbabwe.
8. On BBC iPlayer is an accurate documentary of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe, what this clearly demonstrates is the vote rigging and the corruption within the judiciary system in Zimbabwe https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001498x/storyville-president please watch this heart rending documentary for yourself, see the amazing initial optimism of the opposition, see the support they have, then see the shooting of civilians by the Zimbabwe Army as the rigging of the election result is all too obvious.
9. Just to prove the point in the run-up to the by-elections in Zimbabwe on the 26th February, and the gerrymandering going on by the ruling [illegal] cabal. They have turned off the Internet in Zimbabwe - we assume to prevent social media filming oppression, torture and victimisation of the opposition parties. Just like dictatorship that is ruling Zimbabwe. https://twitter.com/BitiStanford/status/1495252347152482308?s=20&t=MaVRnk4PPcAC2U9-8ufWaA

…and for UK Tax-Payers -  financially a great waste of money:

10. The financial cost to UK tax payers of the system that allows the Home Office to make assumptions about who should be deported;
    1. To round up 100+ people and incarcerate them in Immigration Removal Centres such as Colnbrook – with the extra risk of catching Covid;
    2. and to book an expensive charter flight that then leaves with a handful of people because the Courts are convinced by the application of the Law that many potential victims of this action have legitimate reason to remain in UK https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jul/22/legal-bids-mean-uk-deportation-flight-to-zimbabwe-takes-off-just-one-third-full

Stop this indiscriminate and bigoted victimisation of those “trapped” in a complex and expensive Asylum System for years, or even decades.

Our joint campaign for those with precarious status to be granted Indefinite Leave to Remain now is spurred on by the injustice of decisions to deport people to Zimbabwe without due consideration.

^[1] Main author of this petition https://statusnow4all.org/deportation-in-this-cruel-hostile-environment/

^[2] Additional content https://www.zhro.org.uk/asylum-uk