13th August 2007

A "country Guidance"case is intended to give guidance to Immigration Judges in assessing asylum claims by a given nationality of asylum seekers, or a group thereof.

Since the setting of seemingly arbitrary targets on deportations, there appears to have been a pattern of the Home Office rounding up, detaining and deporting asylum seekers of a given nationality just prior to a "Country Guidance" case being heard or the judgement of the being handed down.

Many feel this is a cynical and blatant attempt by the Home Office to get rid of as many asylum seekers as possible before case-law goes against against them.

Zimbabweans
It seems to have started with the detention of Zimbabwean asylum asylum seekers, most of whom were later released after that "country guidance" case (AA, which has since been superseded by HS) took a legal turn.

Congolese
Later it was the turn of the Congolese ; little more than one week ahead of the original planned opening of the Democratic Republic of Congo "country guidance" case ("BK" - Appeal Number AA/04958/2006), the Home Office rounded up and deported 40 men, women and children on a specially chartered flight on 26th February 2007. The case, which has since been adjourned, part heard, until the 17th September 2007, will hear what many describe as "overwhelming" evidence of the possible intimidation, torture and imprisonment by DR Congo authorities of refused asylum seekers who are expelled to the DR Congo.

Sudanese
Then it was the turn of Sudanese ; in March 2007, just before the judgement was to be handed down in the "country guidance" case (HMGO) in relation to the removal to Khartoum of certain Sudanese nationals, the Home Office rounded up refused Sudanese asylum seekers, including Darfuris, and gave them "removal directions" on a British Airways flight to Khartoum. The Home Office lost the case.

Sri Lankans
While the judgement was pending in the LP "country guidance" case, the Home Office were rounding up refused Sri Lankan asylum seekers and detaining them for deportation in what seemed like a cynical and blatant attempt to get rid of as many of them as possible before case-law went against them. The Home Office lost that case as well.
Click here for Background Briefing

Congolese again
Just as the "BK" Country Guidance is due to be heard on September 17th 2007 (having been adjourned since March), the Home Office has organised another "deportation charter" flight to the DR Congo on 30th August 2007.

Sri Lankans, Zimbabweans, Darfuris, Congolese - the "lucky" ones !
Sri Lankans, Zimbabweans, Darfuris, Congolese ... they are the "lucky" ones, for whom a "country guidance" case may offer a flicker of hope. There is no "country guidance" case in the pipe-line for most countries - Iraqi Kurdistan, for example ; 38 refused Iraqi asylum seekers were forcibly deported to Iraq on February 12th 2007 by military plane from RAF Brize Norton.

UK Government publicly condemns abusive regimes and quietly deports their victims back
Indeed, this year, the Home Office has unleashed it's dirtiest ever war against people seeking asylum; whilst publicly "condemning" the perpetrators of genocide and human right abuses, they are quietly deporting the Victims of War right back into the world's worst disaster zones and the hands of the world's most brutal regimes.