§ Vera BairdTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Burmese asylum seekers have been deported to Burma in each of the past three years; and what information he has received concerning the fate of those people following their repatriation. [159885]
§ Beverley Hughes[holding answer 9 March 2004]Estimates of the number of Burmese nationals who had sought asylum at some stage and who were removed from the UK in the period January 2001 to September 2003 (the latest available figures) are shown in the table. These figures include persons departing 'voluntarily' after the initiation of enforcement action against them, removals to a safe third country and persons leaving under Assisted Voluntary Returns Programmes run by the International Organisation for Migration.
868W
Removals and voluntary1 departures of principal asylum applicants (excluding dependants): January 2001 to September 20032,3,4 Burma (Myanmar) 2001 * 2002 10 January to September 2003 5 1 Including persons departing "voluntarily" after enforcement action had been initiated against them. 2 May include removals to a safe third country.
3 Data are estimated due to date quality issues on the IND databases. 4 Provisional figures. Note:
Date are rounded to nearest five with * denoting 1 or 2Information on the destination of these removals and whether they were forcibly removed or departed voluntarily is not available, except by examination of individual case-files at disproportionate cost.
All asylum (and human rights) claims made by Burmese nationals are considered on their individual merits in accordance with our obligations under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Should a claim be refused and any appeal before the independent Immigration Appellate Authority be unsuccessful, it means that for that individual it is safe to return.
In making decisions about removing failed asylum seekers, the Home Office takes full account of up to date information from a wide range of sources about the situation in the country of origin. These sources include intergovernmental organisations (such as the UN), governmental sources (including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) and human rights organisations (for example Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch).
If an individual asylum seeker establishes a need for international protection they would not be returned. We do not have information on individuals returned to Burma and there would be difficulties in determining the extent to which any problems the individuals experienced could he attributed to their having been returned as failed asylum seekers.