We hope that 2010 is treating you well so far. Thereās lots to tell you about the OutCry! campaign and the momentum that is now building to end the immigration detention of children. And so much of this momentum is down to all of you who have helped take action on this issue, whether by sending a Christmas card to the Immigration Minister, spreading the word about OutCry!, signing petitions, contacting your MPs, gaining media coverage of the issue in your local area ā the list goes on! So a huge thank you and well done to every individual, organisation or campaigning group who has raised the issue. Read on to find out what you can do next to help the campaign, especially using our easy online tool to email your local newspaper editor.
Hereās just a few things that have happened recently to build the pressureā¦
- Lots of you sent Phil Woolas MP, the Immigration Minister, a Christmas card as part of the āOne More Cardā campaign. We donāt know what Mr Woolasā new yearās resolution was, but we sincerely hope it was to end the detention of children. We know quite a few people received responses from the UK Border Agency, showing that they must have received enough cards to take notice! So thanks again for taking this action.
- ThereĀ has beenĀ a huge amount ofĀ national and regional news coverage about the immigration detention of children. Highlights included theĀ joint statement by the Royal Colleges of Paediatrics, GPs and Psychiatry and the Faculty of Public Health demanding an end to the physical and mental damage done to children who are detained. Then there were visits to Yarlās Wood by āSt Nicholasā and Canon Nick Sagovsky of Westminster Abbey to deliver presents to the children, and by prominent childrenās author Beverley Naidoo and illustrator Karin Littlewood. Beverley went on to write a startling and disturbing account of the visit in The Guardian, and lots of other writers and illustrators joined her in calling for an end to the immigration detention of children in a letter in The Observer. Shortly afterwards, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister, published in The Daily Mail, calling for an end to āwhat is in effect state sponsored crueltyā. And just before Christmas Dame Anne Owers, chief inspector of prisons, published her report on an unannounced visit to Tinsley House immigration detention centre, calling the conditions there āwholly unacceptableā for women and children. Meanwhile, The Independent kicked off the new year with a very welcome detailed investigation ā āDetaining children in Britain: No place for the innocentā.
- OutCry! began its year by helping to support a performance of āMotherlandā at the Bedford Civic Theatre near Yarlās Wood. Produced by Women for Refugee Women and directed by actress Juliet Stevenson, āMotherlandā tells the stories of women and children detained in Yarlās Wood using their own words. The event was incredibly powerful, with a packed theatre and a great audience Q&A with a panel including former detainees, local MPs Alistair Burt and Patrick Hall, a Medical Justice doctor, and Lisa Nandy, Policy Advisor at The Childrenās Society. You can read more and see photos of the event on our website.
Take action! Email your local newspaper
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Act now, and demand an end to the immigration detention of children. Our new online tool makes it really easy to create and send an email to the editor of your local newspaper. Your email, which we hope the editor will publish in the newspaper, will call on the Government to stop detaining children, and it will urge your local community and your MP to back the campaign. Your message will also be copied to your local MP to make them aware of your views. |
In the run-up to the General Election, we hope that actions like this taken by thousands of campaigners like you will create a real sense of local outrage about the awful effects of immigration detention on children. We’ve already seen the power of local communities to raise this issue and generate media coverage. We hope that sitting MPs, and crucially, candidates running for election, will be forced to take notice and act to end this shameful practice.
Its easy to take this action and it’ll only take a minute! Just fill in your details on the website and we’ll find your local newspaper contacts. There’s a template email to send – just add a few words to explain why this issue should matter to your MP andĀ your local community (by makingĀ your emailĀ local it is more likely that the newspaperĀ will publish it). Afterwards, we even make it easy to email your friends and get them to take this action too! Take this action now…
More actions you can take!
Many other organisations and campaigns are also calling for an end to the immigration detention of children. Why not take one, or preferably all, ofĀ these actions to help put pressure on the Government? Petition the Prime Minister, get candidates for the upcoming General Election to sign the Sanctuary Pledge, or urge your doctor to petition the Government...
New on the OutCry! website
Weāve also been busy adding lots more information to our website. Why not have a look at:
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Thank you again for your support.
Camilla Engeset
OutCry! national co-ordinator