Sir Al Aynsley-Green, the paediatrician who, as the first Children’s Commissioner for England, did more than any single person to expose the arrest and detention of innocent children, the injustices and sheer horror of their lived experiences, said:
‘ I am looking for two things: A demonstration of intent by releasing those currently held, not least because absconding is not an issue. Within weeks rather than months produce robust proposals. Detention is inhumane and shocking and there is no place for it in a country that claims to be civilised.’
Sir AL QUOTE IN FULL:
Sir Al Aynsley-Green, the first Children’s Commissioner for England:
‘I welcome the focus on detention so soon in the new government. It must have a chance to produce an action plan. But the review should not be an excuse for prevarication. The evidence of harm to children is incontrovertible. And officials have had at least five years to think of alternatives during the pressure that I have applied as Children’s Commissioner. I am looking for two things: A demonstration of intent by releasing those currently held, not least because absconding is not an issue. Within weeks rather than months produce robust proposals. Detention is inhumane and shocking and there is no place for it in a country that claims to be civilised.’
MALCOLM STEVENS:
‘Obviously Ministers are intending to move on this very quickly, which is reassuring. But in the meantime,’ he added, ‘there is no doubt that children should be removed from immigration detention and removal centres forthwith. For a country which takes pride in safeguarding its children, it is indefensible, and frankly shameful, to force a small group of them to live anywhere where their welfare is known to be at risk.’
MStevens is on the working group of IAIN DUNCAN SMITH’S
Centre for social justice:
Clare Sambrook, coordinator of the citizens’ campaign End Child Detention Now said:
‘We must push for the immediate release of the children and their parents, and resist any attempt to kick this issue into the long grass. The facts are in. The evidence is irresistible. There is no excuse for detaining families who are at no risk of absconding in conditions known to harm their mental health. We urge the government to release them immediately.’
Clare Sambrook, coordinator of the citizens’ campaign End Child Detention Now said:
‘We must push for the immediate release of the children and their parents, and resist any attempt to kick this issue into the long grass. The facts are in. The evidence is irresistible. As NHS paediatricians and psychologists Lorek et al reported six months ago in the peer-reviewed study that Labour’s Home Office did their damnedest to bury, children at Yarl’s Wood are ‘clearly vulnerable, marginalized, and at risk of mental and physical harm as a result of state sanctioned neglect (inadequate care and protection), and possibly abuse in the sense of exposure to violence within the detention facilities themselves.
‘There is no excuse for detaining families who are at no risk of absconding in conditions known to harm their mental health.’
Re – NO RISK OF ABSCONDING. . . .
The Government admits that asylum-seeking families in the community don’t abscond
www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmhaff/970/09091604.htm
UK BORDER AGENCY DIRECTOR OF CRIMINALITY & DETENTION Dave Wood interrupted his holiday to appear before HASC 16 SEPTEMBER 2009:
He said this:
‘I do feel that our immigration policy would be in difficulty if we did not have that ability to detain them because it would act as a significant magnet and pull to families from abroad to come to the United Kingdom because, in effect, once they got here they could just say, “I am not going.” Whilst issues are raised about absconding, that is not our biggest issue. It does happen but it is not terribly easy for a family unit to abscond. ‘