Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment his Department has made of the risk to Zimbabwean nationals facing deportation to Zimbabwe.

All asylum and human rights applications from Zimbabwean 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.

The Country Policy and Information Note Zimbabwe: Opposition to the government published in April 2018 (available on Gov.uk) outlines our position. We are aware of the situation in Zimbabwe and are keeping it under review, 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 person needs to show a risk above and beyond those general inherent risks.

The April 2018 Country Policy and Information Note is in the process of being updated, incorporating recommendations from a review commissioned by the Independent Advisory Group on Country Information. This will be published in due course.

Where a decision has been made that a person does not require international protection, removal is only enforced when we and the courts conclude that it is safe to do so, with a safe route of return.