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THE DETENTION OF CHILDREN A statement from the Rt Revd John Packer, Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, Chair of the Urban Bishops Panel.

On 2nd February the Church celebrates the value and potential of a child’s life as we remember the Presentation of Christ in the Temple.

In the UK the value and potential of many children is denied through the continued practice of detaining children in immigration detention centres. Each year over 2000 children are detained in prison-like conditions. No limit is set to the time in which children may be detained.

As Bishop of Ripon and Leeds I am aware of the impact of removal and detention on those who experience it as well as those left behind, in our schools, communities and congregations. I welcome the initiative of the End Child Detention Now Campaign.

Children are detained through no fault of their own. They are often removed from familiar settings in sudden and alarming circumstances leaving behind friends, toys and personal possessions. Detention is a distressing experience. Child detainees experience insomnia, bed wetting, weight loss, speech regression, depression, and are known to self-harm. The children of asylum seekers are a vulnerable group, made more so by this policy which has no regard for their mental health. The experience of detention often evokes the trauma they have experience when flees their country of origin. Continue reading “THE DETENTION OF CHILDREN A statement from the Rt Revd John Packer, Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, Chair of the Urban Bishops Panel.”

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Asylum: Mothers’ & Children’s Right to Family Reunion, online petition

To: UK Government

• Many people seeking asylum in the UK are mothers fleeing war, persecution, rape and other torture.

• To protect themselves and their children, mothers are often forced to leave their children behind –usually they don’t know where they are going or how they will survive.

• Mothers may lose contact with children back home or hear of them unprotected and suffering, and can do little to prevent it.

• It can take many years for an asylum claim to be settled; meanwhile: children suffer the torture of being deprived of their mother’s love and care, left destitute, at risk of sexual and other violence; mothers are treated as single people and the pain of separation and of trying to be a carer long distance is invisible and unrecognised.

• When mothers win the right to stay, most are not automatically granted the right of family reunion. If children turn 18 while their mother’s application is being considered they lose the right to join their mother.

* We are a mothers’ campaign, so we speak particularly of mothers, the primary carers in every society, but we know that the problems and heartbreak we describe are often true of fathers, grandparents & other carers. Continue reading “Asylum: Mothers’ & Children’s Right to Family Reunion, online petition”

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BA (Nigeria) (FC); (2) PE (Cameroon) (FC) – THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

[2009] UKSC 7
On appeal from: [2009] EWCA Civ 119

Date heard: 30/07/2009
Judgment given on: 26/11/2009

Before:
Lord Hope, Deputy President
Lord Scott
Lord Rodger; Lady Hale; Lord Brown

The Secretary of State for the Home Department
Appellant

(1) BA (Nigeria) (FC); (2) PE (Cameroon) (FC)
Respondents

JUDGMENT

On appeal from: [2009] EWCA Civ 119 Continue reading “BA (Nigeria) (FC); (2) PE (Cameroon) (FC) – THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM”

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Message your newspaper

CLICK THE ‘TAKE ACTION’ BOX

Over the coming months we will be working with other organisations and individuals who share our view that the detention of children must end. We will be pressing the government to change its policy so that children are no longer locked up in detention centres.

Join the campaign…

If, like us, you think detaining children is unacceptable please add your voice to the campaign.

We will keep you updated with campaign news and ideas of how you can take action to give some of the most vulnerable children in the UK their childhood back.

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Children in detention: ‘it is like a prison’

Both The Children’s Society and Bail for Immigration Detainees work directly with children and families in immigration detention, providing much-needed legal and welfare support. As a result, we have heard first hand the appalling effects of detention on children. Below is just a small selection of quotes from those who have experienced detention. As the OutCry! campaign progresses, we will be working hard to put the voices of children and families at the front and centre of our efforts to persuade the Government to end this shameful practice.

“I am Sophie, I am 7 years old. I go to school at St Mark’s School. I like my school and my teacher and all my friends. I miss them a lot. I miss my house. I don’t like this place where I am so afraid. I don’t want to stay here. I don’t want to go to prison. I am afraid of this people with white shirt they are not nice. I want to return in my house.”

(7 year old) Continue reading “Children in detention: ‘it is like a prison’”

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OutCry! campaign update – help us to end the immigration detention of children

We hope that 2010 is treating you well so far. There’s 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 – 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. Continue reading “OutCry! campaign update – help us to end the immigration detention of children”

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Muskhadzhiyeva and others v. Belgium (application no. 41442/07)

ecthrPress release issued by the Registrar Chamber judgment1

Muskhadzhiyeva and others v. Belgium (application no. 41442/07)

DETENTION OF CHECHEN CHILDREN UNLAWFUL AND CONDITIONS OF DETENTION UNACCEPTABLE

Violation of Articles 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) and 5 § 1 (right to liberty and security) (second, third, fourth and fifth applicants)

No violation of Articles 3 and 5 § 1 (first applicant)

No violation of Article 5 § 4 (all applicants) of the European Convention on Human Rights Continue reading “Muskhadzhiyeva and others v. Belgium (application no. 41442/07)”

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“This judgement is not the beginning of the end of family detention in Belgium but the end itself”

ecreECRE INTERVIEW: ALEXIS DESWAEF, LAWYER OF THE MUSKHADZHIYEVA FAMILY

“This judgement is not the beginning of the end of family detention in Belgium but the end itself”

On Tuesday 19 January, Belgium was condemned by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg for the detention of a Chechen family of four children and their mother in a closed reception centre. Having fled from Chechnya to Poland, they eventually arrived in Belgium on 11 October 2006, where they sought asylum. However, in accordance with the Dublin regulation, the Belgian authorities served them with a deportation order to Poland and placed in a closed transit centre. The ECtHR ruled that the detention of the children in this closed centre constitutes a violation of Article 3 of European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and awarded the applicants 17, 000 euros damages.

ECRE interviewed Mr. Alexis Deswaef, lawyer of the Muskhadzhiyeva family.

What implications will this judgement have for the detention of families? Continue reading ““This judgement is not the beginning of the end of family detention in Belgium but the end itself””