§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to end the policy of detaining asylum seekers in Britain pending decisions on their applications.
§ Mr. Nicholas BakerThe Court of Appeal is currently considering a case involving the power to detain certain people who have sought asylum and the court's judgment will be given very careful consideration once it is received. In the meantime, it is not proposed to change our current general practice which results in the detention of only a very small proportion of people who have sought asylum.
§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what international conventions govern the practice of restraining failed asylum seekers in flight, and withholding their documents and handing them to the authorities of their country of origin;
(2) what are the procedures when failed asylum seekers are returned under escort to (a) Angola, (b) Ghana, (c) Zaire, (d) Sierra Leone, (e) Sri Lanka, (f) Turkey and (g) Uganda;
(3) what are the procedures for returning refused asylum seekers under escort to their country of origin; and if the passenger together with his travel documents is handed over to the security services at the receiving airport;
(4) in what circumstances the tranquillising drug largactil or chlorpromazine is given in the forced removal of failed asylum seekers; who determines the dose; and who administers it.
§ Mr. Nicholas BakerThe powers of the commander of an aircraft to authorise the use of restraints in flight flows from article 6 of the Tokyo convention 1963. I am not aware of any international convention governing the handling of travel documents in these circumstances. Escorted asylum seekers are normally invited to disembark at the country of destination in possession of their own documentation. The procedures for removing failed asylum seekers under escort are the same irrespective of the country of destination. The person would not normally be drawn to the attention of the authorities in the country of destination unless this was considered appropriate e.g. in relation to a criminal offence. The administration of medication is a matter for a medical practitioner to decide. Sedation is not used as a means to effect removal.