Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback Edited Legal Collections Data

of Worth Matravers, Lord Phillips --- "Foreword" [2013] ELECD 800; in Juss, Singh Satvinder; Harvey, Colin (eds), "Contemporary Issues in Refugee Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013) viii

Book Title: Contemporary Issues in Refugee Law

Editor(s): Juss, Singh Satvinder; Harvey, Colin

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781782547655

Section Title: Foreword

Author(s): of Worth Matravers, Lord Phillips

Number of pages: 3

Extract:

Foreword
In my time in the Court of Appeal, the House of Lords and latterly the
Supreme Court, there is no doubt as to the major growth area: public law
disputes in relation to foreign residents who had gained entry to this
jurisdiction, usually unlawfully, and who did not wish to be returned to
their own countries. Some advanced arguable claims to refugee status,
others invoked the Human Rights Act, contending that it would contra-
vene the Convention to remove them to countries where their human
rights would not be respected.
To give a recent example, in 2012 the Supreme Court reviewed the law
relating to claims for asylum for Zimbabwean refugees in the decision:
RT (Zimbabwe) and others v Secretary of State for the Home Depart-
ment.1 RT and others were a group of Zimbabwean Nationals whose
claim for asylum had been rejected by the Asylum and Immigration
Tribunal. Specifically, they claimed they would face persecution if they
were returned to their country because of their lack of political opinion.
In Zimbabwe, a lack of political opinion is seen as a failure to show
loyalty to the prevailing political regime: the Zimbabwe African National
Union ­ Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF). Under this regime, political apathy
is akin to political opposition and it poses a real risk of persecution. The
central issue is whether a claim for asylum could be overthrown in
circumstances where individuals would be forced to lie about their lack
of political beliefs to feign loyalty to ...