The letter was co-ordinated by Association of Visitors to Immigration Detainees, Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group and London Detainee Support Group, who are Steering Group members of the Detention Forum.
Jerome Phelps, Director of London Detainee Support Group, commented: “An unprecedented range of organisations has come together to call for action to address the dysfunctions of the detention system. Detention reform is needed now to ensure that immigrants’ civil liberties are not breached unnecessarily.”. Ali McGinley, Director of the Association of Visitors to Immigration Detainees, said: “The need for detention reform is clear, and the number of organisations who have shown their support is testimony to this. Many of them visit Immigration Removal Centres every day and have a unique insight into a system which leaves so many detainees in limbo, with no idea when they will be released. It’s time to listen to them and call for a fairer system.”.
Other signatories and supporters include Asylum Aid, Asylum Welcome, Barbed Wire Britain, Brighton Voices in Exile, British Quakers. Coalition Against Bullingdon Immigration Removal Centre, Campaign to Close Campsfield, Dover Detainee Visitor Group, The Equal Rights Trust, Haslar Visitors Group, Lewes Group in Support of Refugees and Asylum Seekers, London Churches Refugee Network, Manchester Immigration Detainee Support Team, Migrant & Refugee Communities Forum, Migrant Voice, Migrants Rights Network, National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns, Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) , RenéCassin, Scottish Detainee Visitors, Unity Centre Glasgow, United Reformed Church, Yarl’s Wood Befrienders, Yarl’s Wood Asylum Casework Support Group and Zimbabwe Association.
Follow-up collective action is being planned. If you want to know more about it, or if your organisation wants to show your support to this initiative, please contact Ali McGinley (ali.mcginley@aviddetention.org.uk), Nic Eadie (neadie@gdwg.org.uk) or Jerome Phelps (jerome@ldsg.org.uk).