Zimbabwe deportations: Your views

Should the Zimbabweans that have had their UK asylum claims rejected be sent back?

Home Secretary Charles Clarke has rejected calls to stop sending back to Zimbabwe people whose UK asylum claims have failed, arguing that not all genuinely face persecution.

During the first three months of this year 95 Zimbabweans were sent home following the lifting of the ban on deportations last November.

The Conservative spokesman David Davis called the UK Zimbabwe policy a "miserable failure".

What is your reaction to the deportations? Should the deportees receive protection? Should the same asylum rules apply to all? Would halting the deportations lead to asylum abuses?

This debate is now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.

---

The following comments reflect the balance of opinion we have received so far:

This is just another pathetic excuse to stay here. Zimbabwe might not be a nice place to live but they are not under the threat of death by returning.
John, Hornchurch

Show some guts Tony and go on a fact finding mission to Zimbabwe. Don't delegate the job. As our Prime Minister get over there and meet Mugabe face to face.
Colin Dobson, Barry, Wales

Whilst most people will be shocked at this decision, they're the same people that buy the Sunday newspapers that rant at length about how easy it is to get asylum in the UK (when in fact it isn't). You can't have your cake and eat it. Personally, I'd rather the Zimbabweans could stay, but little surprises me with Labour these days.
Alex, Aylesbury, UK

If people think that the asylum seekers who have come here will be safe after having tried to escape they are very naive Marc Davidson, Milton Keynes

I am for one absolutely disgusted that we have still to face the issue of Zimbabwe, we make all this big talk about stopping evil dictators, but when they don't have any oil, poomf we disappear. Deporting anyone who will face possible torture or death when they return home is cowardly and completely unacceptable.

If people think that the asylum seekers who have come here will be safe after having tried to escape they are very naive. Mugabe is slaughtering his own people if they speak out against him, do you not think trying to come to the UK just automatically signs their death warrants back in Zimbabwe.
Marc Davidson, Milton Keynes

The current demolitions of houses in Zimbabwe are a clear reflection of how ruthless, insensitive and murderous the Mugabe regime is. Mugabe premised his election manifesto on burying Tony Blair and the MDC. Anyone deported will definitely be labelled a spy for the British, thus invariably getting worse treatment than 'illegal' settlers whose houses were demolished. The issue is not about one being a genuine asylum seeker or not but it is about 'conniving' with the enemy by just claiming asylum against Mugabe.
Patrick, UK

The fact that the home secretary even contemplates sending Zimbabweans home shows that Britain does not understand what is happening in Zimbabwe on a day to day basis. Would England have sent Jews back to Germany during the second world war?
Anonymous

The clean up campaign is taking place in Cameroon and no-one is condemning Cameroon Simone, Dakar, Senegal

I think this Zimbabwe land issue is taking other turns, more than that for which they intended. If the British people want to deport asylum seekers from England I do not see any reason why they should focus on Zimbabweans because of Mugabe. Africa has never intervened in the internal policies of any European country and so they should Leave Mugabe alone. The clean up campaign is taking place in Cameroon and no-one is condemning Cameroon. Why only Mugabe? Africans, do not let these Europeans keep on manipulating us.
Simone, Dakar, Senegal

In Zambia, Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique and Malawi there is no evidence of abuse of human rights. Why could these people not seek asylum in these countries? Why Britain? The answer is obvious.
B Berry, New Malden

We are only providing a short term solution to a long term problem Amy, Reading, UK

At the end of the day, whilst I completely disagree with the horrific conditions that these people are being sent back to, we must ask ourselves what taking in more and more Zimbabweans is going to achieve. Mugabe doesn't want half of these people in his country anyway, so in this respect we are actually helping him. By letting so many of these people come into Britain we are only providing a short term solution to a long term problem. What is going to happen when the next generation of Zimbabweans are still experiencing the same horrendous conditions?
Amy, Reading, UK

As far as I can see the people who are in fear of their lives and consequently demanding not to be sent back to Zimbabwe are those who oppose the malicious rule of Robert Mugabe and who have had the courage to stand up to him. Granting them asylum is not in anyway like 'inviting the whole of Zimbabwe to stay'.
Paul Kirby, Wellingborough

Let them stay here, and let each person who thinks they should remain offer to sponsor one person from Zimbabwe.
Megan, Cheshire, UK

Zimbabwe's human rights record is appalling... simply being there one faces persecution, and the fact that these people tried to escape once will probably put them at the top of Mugabe's hit list. Why not let them stay and all those who are against asylum in all its forms go to Zimbabwe in their place and see how they like it?
Ash, Southampton, England

I think the Zimbabweans should stay. There is more evidence of human rights abuses there than most other asylum seekers countries of origin, yet they get to stay and get given my tax money.
Trevor Mallery, Sidcup, UK

I've just seen David Davis of the Tories saying these people shouldn't be sent back - they are in danger. But what if the Tories had got into power and we'd hit these quotas they wanted to set, would they have had to send them back because our quota was full? It's easy for Davis to take the opposite view to the government but their quota system would have sent people potentially to their deaths. So now he's changed his tune does that mean that all the election quota talk was rubbish?
Phil, UK

This is not a party political issue. Tony Blair and his government are quite capable of discerning whether or not someone is an economic migrant or a true asylum seeker. I shudder that my country is behaving such a way. Listening to Blair earlier today was a lesson in sophistry.
Lynn, Herts, UK

No. They should not be sent back Omorodion Osula, Boston

No. They should not be sent back. The present situation in Zimbabwe right now is very volatile. The untold hardship and human right abuse is beyond human comprehension. Without mincing words, the deportees should be given immediate protection. I strongly believe in fairness, equal right and justice for all, and as such, all asylum seekers should be treated equally. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. Trying to protect human lives cannot constitute abuse. The present government in Zimbabwe doesn't have regard for human lives never mind protecting them. Why throw these people into the lions den?
Omorodion Osula, Boston, USA

What has really annoyed me about these stories is that the very newspapers who were complaining about too many asylum seekers being granted asylum are the ones campaigning to have these asylum seekers stay! How many asylum seekers are being deported to their home countries where they face certain abuse or even death?
Oliver Winters, Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire, UK

Now we see the real motives behind the demonisation of Zimbabwe. Britain doesn't care about Zimbabweans, but it will relentlessly attack Zimbabwe for an operation that has been done in lots of different countries across Africa. Someone needs to remind Blair and Straw that we are sovereign.
Chembo Mubenza, Harare, Zimbabwe

Why should the UK have to deal with it all by themselves? Lynne Thomas, Wales

If the UK government allows people from everywhere to seek refuge in this country alone - then soon enough the country is going to start sinking. Not just literally, but economically too. People go on about paying their taxes to help single mothers, but forget about the amount of refugees that need spending on too. It would make much more sense to send them to somewhere like Australia, which has got the capacity to hold them. They'll have far better weather over there too. Why should the UK have to deal with it all by themselves?
Lynne Thomas, Wales

Britain does not neighbour Zimbabwe so why should it be a destination for fleeing Zimbabweans? The duty of Zimbabweans is to their own country. They should fight for it instead of running away and expecting others to sort out their problems for them. How will countries like Zimbabwe ever improve if those who disagree with their regimes simply flee?
Jamie Shepherd

Britain's pathetic excuse for a government has failed to deport hundreds of thousands of bogus asylum seekers to countries that are perfectly safe. Yet now the whole weight of the British state now falls on people from Zimbabwe who are in genuine fear of their lives. If any of these people are sent back and are subsequently murdered by Mugabe, their blood will be on the hands of the UK government.
Paul Jemetta, London, UK

I am a Zimbabwean living in Ireland because of Mugabe. I know just what they are capable of. It's about time the British people stood shoulder to shoulder with us and not three steps behind. Mr Blair should have stood by us along time ago and we would not have to be here at all. This can all be sorted out at the G8 summit. Someone have the guts to do something!
Caroline Capell, Letterkenny, Ireland

This exposes the UK's policy on Zimbabwe for all it is - making noise for the sake of hearing one's voice.
Gerald Mwaanga, Chicago, USA

Total hypocrisy. If they were white farmers the British government would let them stay regardless of whether they were entitled to or not, and whether they were of British descent or not.
Adam, Stoke, England

Like the issue of domestic violence, a lot of women had to die first before the world realised that domestic violence is not an internal issue but a criminal offence Sharon Njobo, Canada

The deportation of Zimbabweans by Britain epitomizes the double standards of all the countries that have stood by the sidelines and watched Zimbabweans being abused by the government of Robert Mugabe. Like the issue of domestic violence, a lot of women had to die first before the world realised that domestic violence is not an internal issue but a criminal offence. What is going on in Zimbabwe is not an internal affair, but a heinous crime and these deportations must stop.
Sharon Njobo, Scarborough, Canada

This is typical Britain. We care about everything on the condition it's not in our back garden. How stupid can one nation get, seriously you don't expect me to take a governments pledge against poverty serious as we turn thousands over to the poverty we are so called fighting. It's another Blair publicity stunt at the expense of the Live 8 concerts
John Gearing, St Helens, UK

It is not too long ago that Britain was told to keep out of African affairs, now we are being told to think about what is happening to Zimbabwe. Yes that is a bad situation but if we don't send these people back, how many more from Zimbabwe will make their way to the UK. Sorry but they have to be deported.
WP Derbyshire, London, UK

The unpalatable truth is that deportation of potential asylum seekers/immigrants will gain more political votes from the electorate than it will lose. Given the key purpose of any politician is to maintain or increase its party's voting power base, there should be no surprise in this move. Whether or not an application is genuine is more a matter of spin to justify the lifting of the ban.
David Naylor, Mexico City, Mexico

The African Union doesn't seem too bothered about what is going on in Zimbabwe so why should the UK? If, as Tony Blair says they are here illegally they should be deported and, who would have reason to disbelieve him?
Phil, UK

Definitely don't send them back. I know the UK can't be expected to allow just anyone in, but asylum seekers and refugees are different. If we don't want to help them here, then we should be sending in troops to bring about regime change. Is it that there is no oil there?
Gillian Wells, Hove, East Sussex

If deportations are halted that is tantamount to inviting the entire population of Zimbabwe, all 13 million of them, to come and live in the UK if they wish.
Albert, UK

I am totally ashamed by the actions of my government in sending people back to Zimbabwe. How can the government justify sending anyone back to that place now? What we see happening there, on our TV screens, is totally beyond me.
Helen S, Norfolk

Yes of course they should be sent back if their claims are rejected! The same rules should apply to everyone; we have enough abuses of our system already. Our government should concentrate on its own people before it starts worrying about all and sundry with their own governments!
NG, Brighton, UK

My advice to the UK government is this: please for God's sake accept all of those who are residing in the UK to stay cause as you may know things are not fine with the Zimbabweans. Most of them are suffering. This is why they are all seeking asylum in the UK. I advice that these people should remain and be allowed to make their living.
Francis Eesiah, Monrovia, Liberia

It is incomprehensible to me how the UK government can be so inhumane as to send these people back. Why do politicians lose their humanity when they get into office? Of course they should be allowed to stay.
Christopher Skelton, Tunbridge Wells, Kent

I think the international response to the current situation, especially from the UK and US, is nothing short of a disgrace. Would it be cynical to suggest that the disinterest is due to the fact that there is no oil in Zimbabwe?
Alan King, Cardiff, Wales, UK

While I can understand the need to deal with bogus asylum seekers, I don't see how that can apply to these people. Zimbabwe is surely a textbook example of a dangerous regime.
Andrew, Cardiff, UK