Dear Supporters
It has been 3 days since sadly 14 people were deported to Zimbabwe.
The majority of those targeted were not deported and we thank you for joining our campaign and taking action.
Our thoughts are with the 14 people who were deported and their families and loved ones.
We know that the flight was operated by HiFly and that it departed from Stansted airport on Wednesday evening , arriving in Harare on Thursday morning.
Upon arrival, they were taken straight onto coaches and transferred to the Zimbabwe Institute of Public Administration and Management Hotel (ZIPAM) just outside Harare to quarantine for 10 days. Zimbabwe is on a complete Covid lockdown currently.
Some had family they had not seen for years arrive at the airport to meet them but they were not allowed to along with much of the media. Some journalists reported that only the State sponsored media were allowed airside to speak to them as they embarked from the aircraft.
At ZIPAM we have been advised that there is no hot water, no access to computers ( making communications and access to info difficult) and the electricity can go off for the whole day. There is no indication there will be any support provided by the government after the quarantine period.
If anyone deported or their families are reading this, there is a Zimbabwe based organisations with links to charities who can assist, which we can put you in touch with.
You can contact us at: barac.info@gmail.com. Also there is a contact form you can access via this website for Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe:
https://rohr-zimbabwe.org/index.php/contact/
The day after the flight left the Home Office 'boasted' on twitter about it, referring to a landmark historic agreement between the UK and Zimbabwe government: https://twitter.com/ukhomeoffice/status/1418191661360889858?s=19
They don't mention a figure in the above communication but for each person deported, the UK government would have paid a substantial sum of money to the Zimbabwe government which is on top of the costs of chartering a plane and costs of the crew and security onboard.
I was interviewed by CGTN Africa News who also reported from outside the airport when the plane arrived as they were barred from access.
Here is some other recent news coverage:
In addition to monitoring what happens to the 14, we are also concerned that the UK government have more mass deportations planned over the summer.
We believe the first of these will be to Jamaica in the first half of August , but others will be to Vietnam, Nigeria / Ghana and Pakistan. The government have also indicated that it may not just be once to any given country. They have indicated in an agreement with Zimbabwe that there will be more deportations to Zimbabwe in batches of 50 and that there will be more than one charter flight deportations to Jamaica this year.
Therefore we strongly advise that if you or anybody you know might be at risk, that you get legal advice / representation as a matter of urgency as the time between being detained and being deported can be very short with an inadequate number of days I which to find specialist legal representation. Add to this recent problems we have seen with phone signals not working, computers switched off, fax machines not working and restricted or no access to the computer rooms at detention centres, meaning that access to legal advice once detained can be extremely hard.
If you would like to support our campaigning against deportations more more widely and receive updates please also sign our related petition if you haven't already:
Kind Regards
Zita
Zita Holbourne
National Chair BARAC UK
#stoptheplane #Zimbabwe150 #ZimbabweanLivesMatter #enddeportations