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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions >> Sajfudinov v Secretary Of State For Home Department [2001] EWCA Civ 249 (14 February 2001) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2001/249.html Cite as: [2001] EWCA Civ 249 |
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IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE IMMIGRATION APPEAL TRIBUNAL
Strand London WC2 Wednesday 14th February, 2001 |
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B e f o r e :
____________________
DEJAN SAJFUDINOV | ||
Appellant/Applicant | ||
- v - | ||
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT | ||
Respondent |
____________________
Smith Bernal Reporting Limited, 190 Fleet Street,
London EC4A 2AG
Tel: 020 7421 4040
Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)
THE RESPONDENT did not appear and was not represented
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Crown Copyright ©
"4. The appellant is an ethnic Serb who was born and lived all his life in Borovo Selo in Vukovar eastern Slavonia of the Republic of Croatia. The village was populated by Serbs. As a Serb he became a member of the SDP [Serbian Democratic Party]. In 1991/1992 he was conscripted into the Serbian forces to defend his village against the Croatian forces.
5. In January 1998 Vukovar fell under the control of the Croatians. As a member of the Serbian armed forces and having been a member of the SDP he was exposed to persecution and constant harassment by Croats. In January 1998 after the United Nations Forces left Croatia he was subjected to provocation and `discriminatory practices'. In order deliberately to force him out of Croatia together with other ethnic Serbs the Croatian authorities made thousands of Serbs unemployed and left them without state benefits. The appellant did not have any financial problems because he found employment with a private Serbian firm. In January 1998 he received death threats from local Croats. The authorities failed to protect him and he also heard rumours of a secret list of wanted former Serbian soldiers accused of war crimes. He also heard rumours of the disappearance of Serbs. He realised that the former Croatian soldiers and war criminals were now in Croatian police uniform and were behind the intimidation of Serbs. A man who knew him and his family harassed him. The local authorities and the police were aware of this harassment but he could not claim police protection."
"The Special Adjudicator noted that there was no dispute that the appellant had experienced harassment from individual Croats. He had not claimed to have been harassed or ill-treated by the Croatian authorities. His case was that the authorities were unable or unwilling to give him protection from the harassment of these individuals."
"In a constantly changing situation there is no legal parity between one asylum decision and the next. Here the IAT correctly directed itself that experience of persecution was not essential to a well-founded fear, but its careful evaluation of the available in-country reports led it to the conclusion that by September 2000 there was no longer reason to anticipate Croat persecution of former Serb conscripts by or with the active or passive connivance of the State under its present regime."
"However it is our view, on the evidence now produced that the change of policy as set out in Bulletin 3/00 is justified particularly for those such as this appellant who has not demonstrated that he has suffered past persecution, as found by the Special Adjudicator. We cannot accept that the UNHCR would be actively promoting and encouraging the return of ethnic Serbs to Croatia were it to be otherwise or were the submission that the reforms have not yet trickled down sufficiently at local level to be made out."
"Changes are beginning to take place at the level of the central Government and through the Parliament. These (and the tensions caused) are also exemplified in the enclosed reports. There are still political forces opposed to these changes and there is a gap between the Government's official position and the reality at the local authority level. While changes are taking place at a rapid speed at the high levels, such changes are not trickling down at the same speed. Because of this gap I feel that we need to continue with a cautious attitude in relation to return of Croat Serbs currently benefitting from International Protection."
"However, the effects of sweeping changes at the central level have been tempered by a lack of significant shifts at the local and county levels in the war-affected areas where the former ruling party remains the strongest party in power. The still slow pace of refugee return and repossession of property can be explained in part by this fact. Change in the political environment in the field will depend on the outcome of the nation-wide local elections to be held by spring 2001."