The Correct Test For Cessation Of Refugee Status

• Published date: 30 December 2021
• Law Firm: Richmond Chambers Immigration Barristers
• Author: Ms Wendy Barnes

In a judgment given in September 2021 in PS (cessation principles) Zimbabwe [2021] UKUT 00283 (IAC), the Upper Tribunal considered the correct approach to cessation of refugee status. This was in reference to the country guidance in CM (EM country guidance; disclosure) Zimbabwe CG [2013] UKUT 59 (IAC).

Facts of PS (cessation principles) Zimbabwe

The appellant, PS, in this case is a Zimbabwean citizen born in 1978. Her involvement in Zimbabwe's opposition party in 1999 led to her detention in September 2002. Following her release from detention, she entered the UK as a visitor on 11 September 2020. Her leave was extended as a student until October 2007. PS claimed asylum on 24 January 2008 and was granted refugee status on 13 February 2008. She was later granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK in 2013.

PS was convicted of manslaughter of her youngest child, alongside her husband, on 09 November 2015. PS and her husband were sentenced to 8 years and 9.5 years imprisonment respectively. Her refugee status was revoked in March 2018 and she was issued with a deportation order in September 2018.

The respondent rejected PS's claim that it would be a breach of her human rights to be deported to Zimbabwe. On 10 September 2018, PS appealed both decisions to revoke her protection status and refuse her human rights and protection claim pursuant to s82(1) Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. The appeal was dismissed in the First-Tier Tribunal on the basis that PS "constituted a danger to the community" and there had been "a durable and significant change in the circumstances relevant to her asylum claim."

On appeal, the Upper Tribunal accepted that the First-Tier Tribunal had made a material error of law, and their decision should be set aside. The issues in dispute to be determined by the Upper Tribunal were summarised as the following:

• Has the respondent displaced the burden upon her in establishing that the appellant's refugee status should cease?
• In any event, would the appellant's deportation to Zimbabwe breach Article 3 of the ECHR?

The Upper Tribunal's decision

The Upper Tribunal dismissed the appeal under s. 84(3)(a) Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 but determined that PS had succeeded in establishing that the decision to revoke her protection status is contrary to the Refugee Convention.

The Upper Tribunal allowed the appeal under s. 84(2) Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 on the basis that the deportation of PS...