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Where now for the campaign to end child detention?

Syd Bolton, Solicitor, Children’s Legal Centre*

*This is the text of the speech that Syd Bolton gave to the End Child Detention Now/Shpresa

Keep Your Promise campaign launch, Oxford House, Bethnal Green, London, 26th March 2011.

Thank you all for being part of this campaign and for inviting me to take part in this important event. On a day of united action across the UK against public sector cuts; against the loss of essential services and tens of thousands of jobs in the
public and voluntary sectors especially; we must not lose sight of the very close relationship between unemployment and hostility to migrants; between ever stricter border controls and the politics of insecurity. The free movement and privileges enjoyed by global corporations are in stark contrast to the restrictions, conditions and barriers placed in the way of families, their children and relatives, to enjoy their lives together in safety, dignity and with respect. Continue reading “Where now for the campaign to end child detention?”

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Revisit recommendations of the JCHR 2007 report

Dr Hywel Francis MP
Chair
Joint Committee on Human Rights
Committee Office
House of Commons
7 Millbank
London SW1P 3JA

24th March 2011

Dear Dr Francis,

Re: Revisiting the JCHR report, The Treatment of Asylum Seekers

The 2007 report of the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) on the treatment of asylum seekers was strongly welcomed by NGOs.  It set out in compelling detail the inadequacies of a system that is failing to protect the human rights of asylum seekers, through arbitrary decision-making, poor administration and overly complex systems.

Sadly, the report did not become the basis of a fairer, more humane, more effective system with human rights at its core.  With the notable exception of the commitment to end the detention of children, there has been little progress on many issues of concern to the JCHR.  Indeed, in some areas the situation has deteriorated significantly.   As organisations concerned about the use of detention, we believe that, four years on, it is time for the JCHR to revisit its report and assess how far the Government has addressed problems with the treatment of asylum seekers in the UK. Continue reading “Revisit recommendations of the JCHR 2007 report”

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Captive phone market at Tinsley House

Detainees at Tinsley House, near Gatwick, are having their mobile phones confiscated on arrival, and are being forced to rely on a network which allows monitoring – and costs them more for essential calls.
IMMIGRATION detainees are highly dependent on their mobile phones for contact with the outside world, including their legal representatives, family members and where necessary, organisations such as the Samaritans, their MPs and the media. But this is all set to change if a pilot currently being run at Tinsley House is extended. Continue reading “Captive phone market at Tinsley House”

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Does Barnardo’s legitimise child detention?

By Frances Webber
17 March 2011, 10:00pm
The children’s charity’s decision to work with the UK Border Agency (UKBA) in its planned short-term family detention facility has caused alarm among campaigners.
ON 9 March, Barnardo’s announced that it had agreed with the UKBA to provide staff at the proposed new immigration holding centre for up to nine families at Pease Pottage, Crawley Forest. UKBA and its consultants putting forward the planning application describe the centre as ‘pre-departure accommodation’, and never use the word ‘detention’, and according to UKBA’s website, families ‘will have free movement around the site, security will be low-key, and the site will not have an institutional feel’. But NoBorders‘ investigations have shown conclusively that the centre, will be a detention centre – complete with 2.5-metre perimeter fences, locked areas, internal fences dividing the site into accessible and inaccessible areas, a ‘buffer zone’ inside the perimeter fence, and powers to use force and ‘control and restraint’ techniques on both adults and children. The plans even suggest capacity to segregate difficult families for ‘special attention’ in two special units. All areas will be supervised at all times and ‘routine observation of all parts of the grounds will be undertaken’ (although the application does not refer to CCTV, it is likely that this is what it means). The fact that children, and families, may be allowed to leave the centre on supervised shopping or cinema trips, subject to individual risk assessments, does not mask but in fact highlights the institutional nature of the place. Continue reading “Does Barnardo’s legitimise child detention?”

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Detained & Denied: The clinical care of immigration detainees living with HIV

I was scared that I was going to die in Yarl’s Wood when they refused to give my medication. It was as if they were turning off my life support machine. The way they treated me was inhuman. I felt as if I was a criminal. I was traumatised for a long time after my release.

I welcome this new report by Medical Justice and hope that it will be widely read and that UKBA will act on the recommendations. The research highlights the way people like me are not treated like human beings in detention.

As well as being HIV positive I’m an insulin-dependent diabetic and need to eat regularly. I was released from detention after four days. I felt very weak because I had had very little food and no medication during my detention. Interrupting my HIV medication had consequences for my health. 

Continue reading “Detained & Denied: The clinical care of immigration detainees living with HIV”

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Department of Health response to the consultation on foreign nationals access to the NHS

Dear all

The Department of Health has now responded to the consultation on access of foreign nationals to the NHS.  On the positive side the Government proposes to make some changes:

* Exempt refused asylum seekers on S95 or S4 and unaccompanied children from charges for secondary healthcare
* Ensure those that have started free treatment will continue it even if their status changes and they become eligible for charging Continue reading “Department of Health response to the consultation on foreign nationals access to the NHS”

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Pre-departure agreement between agreement between UKBA and Children’s charity Barnado

Dear Friends,

Please find below links to a recent piece by Frances Webber on the agreement between the UKBA and Children’s charity Barnado’s to work together in the proposed new ‘pre-departure accommodation’.

The second link is a related article by Sir Al Aynsley-Green on the wider Children’s Sector.

Please have a read and forward to any interested colleagues. Continue reading “Pre-departure agreement between agreement between UKBA and Children’s charity Barnado”

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London launch of the Keep Your Promise campaign on 26th March

End Child Detention Now, the Shpresa Programme and Student Action for Refugees invite you to the London launch of the Keep Your Promise… campaign
On Saturday 26th March at 5.00pm-6.30pm
Oxford House, Derbyshire Street, Bethnal Green, London E2 6HG
Nearest Tube – Bethnal Green
On 12 May 2010, Nick Clegg on behalf of the Liberal Democrat-Conservative coalition government announced that the  immigration detention of children in the United Kingdom was to be brought to an end. On 16 December Mr Clegg described the detention of children as ‘a moral outrage’ and announced the closure of the family wing of the notorious Yarl’s Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire. He said no children would be detained over Christmas. BUT… Not only was a child detained on Christmas Day, as many as 100 children were detained by the UKBA in the first six months of the coalition government. The new plans for a more humane approach to dealing with families whose asylum claims have failed includes converting a special needs school into ‘pre-departure accommodation’ surrounded by a 2.8 metre security fence – a new detention centre in all but name. This is why End Child Detention Now has teamed up with the Shpresa Programme which supports Albanian speaking families in London and Student Action for Refugees, which represents 5,000 student volunteers across the country to initiate the Keep Your Promise campaign to hold Clegg and Cameron to their pledge to end child detention now and forever.

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UK Immigration Courts: Observations from the Public Gallery

The Old Bailey, crown courts, magistrates courts — we’ve all heard of them, have probably read court reports, may even have attended them in person. But immigration courts? This is where decisions made by the government (the UK Border Agency) in immigration matters — including the administrative detention of some 25,000 people every year without time limit, without criminal charge or proper explanation — can be challenged.

A bail application to an immigration court is generally the most accessible way for detainees to seek their release from detention centres such as Campsfield, Yarl’s Wood, Harmondsworth, Colnbrook andBrook House, places where detainees — including torture survivors — routinely suffer from mental illness (some detainees’ stories here). Continue reading “UK Immigration Courts: Observations from the Public Gallery”

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Britain’s host community: who’s in and who’s out?

Esme Madill, 5 March 2011

Last night Esmé Madill, a consultant in the not for profit sector, spoke at a celebration at the Shire Foundation, which runs ‘Rajo’ (‘hope’ in Somali), a project for Somali children in North London.

I had a preview of tonight’s performance one rainy Sunday in January. It was the end of a long week. I had planned to call in briefly to chat with the young people and then head off for a quiet coffee. I walked in — there was poetry, singing, drumming. Continue reading “Britain’s host community: who’s in and who’s out?”