, 3 October 2011: Today, 35 NGOs have written to the Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC), urging him to âapply scrutiny to the issue of unlawful detentionâ in their forthcoming inquiry into asylum and migration. The letter was drafted by Bail for Immigration Detainees, Freedom from Torture and Detention Action after the idea was mooted at the Detention Forum quarterly meeting on 14th September.Â
Some of those who were at the Detention Forum quarterly meeting expressed their fear that the HASCâs forthcoming inquiry into asylum and migration would bypass detention issues altogether. It was agreed that NGOs should write collectively to the HASC to ensure that the Committee is made aware of NGOsâ growing concern that the detention issue remains largely unexplored by the Government despite its huge human and financial costs.
In particular, the letter highlights the problem of unlawful detention: the detention of vulnerable people such as torture survivors and those who are held in detention for an extremely long time without any time limit. It also notes cases where parentsare detained and separated from their children unlawfully.
The signatories include small groups that visit immigration detainees, large national refugee charities, other NGOs concerned about the treatment of migrants as well as faith groups.  Some of those signatories will also be writing to the HASC individuallyto raise their specific concerns.
The current list of signatories is available below. If your organisation would like to add your voice and/or be kept on the mailing list so that you will be contacted whenthere is another action, please contact Eiri Ohtani at detentionforum(at)gmail.com. All organisations and groups, regardless of whether they have signed this letter or not, are encouraged to lobby the HASC directly now by raising specific issues relating to immigration detention so that the inquiry will treat detention issues seriously.
The list of signatories as of 3 Oct 2011.Â
Gina Clayton, ASSIST (Sheffield)
Ali McGinley, Director, Association of Visitors to Immigration Detainees
Maurice Wren, Director, Asylum Aid
Richard Taylor, Chair, Asylum Welcome (Oxford)
Celia Clarke, Director, Bail for Immigration Detainees
Teresa Elwes, Grants Executive, The Bromley Trust
Gill Baden, Campaign to Close Campsfield
Rosemary Kidd, Chair of the Churches Refugee network
Puck de Raadt, Churches Refugee Network
Sarah Hayward, Coalition Against Bullingdon Immigration Removal Centre
Jerome Phelps, Director, Detention Action
Vebi Kosumi, Director, Dover Detainee Visitor Group
Dimitrina Petrova, Executive Director, The Equal Rights Trust
Abigail Stepnitz, Poppy Project National Coordinator, Eaves Housing for Women
Keith Best, Chief Executive, Freedom from Torture
Nic Eadie, Director, Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group
Anne Dickinson, Coordinator, Haslar Visitors Group
Louise Zanre, Director, Jesuit Refugee Service
Kate Adams, Kent Refugee Help
Emma Ginn, Co-ordinator, Medical Justice
Lisa Matthews, Campaigns Coordinator, National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns
Patsy Brand, Chair of Trustees, Nottingham &Â Nottinghamshire Refugee Forum
Vaughan Jones, Chief Executive, Praxis
Chas Raws, Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network (QARN)
Dave Garratt, Chief Executive, Refugee Action
Donna Covey, Chief Executive, Refugee Council
Rita Chadha, Chief Executive Officer, Refugee & Migrant Forum of East London â RAMFEL
Simone Abel, Director, René Cassin
Anna Beesley, Coordinator, Scottish Detainee Visitors
Anne Leeming, Chair, Southampton and Winchester Visitors Group
Emma Williams, Chief Executive, Student Action for Refugees
Erin Power, Executive Director, UK Lesbian & Gay Immigration Group
The UNITY Centre, Glasgow
Heather Jones, Coordinator, Yarlâs Wood Befrienders
Sarah Harland, Coordinator, Zimbabwe Association