Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria her Department is using to determine if a third country is safe to deport migrants.

The criteria to designate all, or part, of a country as safe for the purpose of certification of protection or human rights claims as clearly unfounded is set out in s94 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002:

(5)The Secretary of State may by order add a State, or part of a State, to the list in subsection (4) if satisfied that—

(a)there is in general in that State or part no serious risk of persecution of persons entitled to reside in that State or part, and

(b)removal to that State or part of persons entitled to reside there will not in general contravene the United Kingdom’s obligations under the Human Rights Convention.

Other countries not designated in this manner may still be considered to be safe in respect of an individual and their personal circumstances.