Comments for End Child Detention Now

Comment on G4S bars Santa from Pease Pottage children’s detention centre by Securing whose world? « No Borders North East

Securing whose world? « No Borders North East — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:10:04 +0000

[...] visit to one of these by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons last year found numerous problems, and campaigners have highlighted the poor treatment people held there face. A Freedom of Information Request showed 773 complaints [...]

Comment on Most children detained in UK ‘pre-departure accommodation’ held for more than 72 hours. by simon

simon — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 14:40:05 +0000

No question that this is an improvement but I would tend to see the reduction in detentions as a result of the concerted action of a broad coalition of anti-detention campaigners rather than a sudden change of heart on the part of the UK Border Agency. The sad fact is that the UKBA does not have a problem with detaining children and it has never accepted that the practice is harmful. In fact, even under this government expensively paid QCs have defended the practice in some of the highest courts in the land – despite the Deputy Prime Minister calling it ‘State Sponsored Cruelty’. Spot any contradiction in that? It is no consolation for the children concerned that the numbers have dropped and it is does not get Clegg and Co off the hook for bringing in a new policy of child detention when they promised parliament and the public that they would end it.

Comment on Most children detained in UK ‘pre-departure accommodation’ held for more than 72 hours. by Grammar Police

Grammar Police — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 11:54:53 +0000

Whilst I still would prefer it if those 11 children hadn’t been detained in September; this is still a massive improvement on the previous government’s policy, which saw hundreds of children detained, for longer periods!

Comment on In Nick Clegg’s fantasy world, child detention in the UK has ended by simon

simon — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 23:33:46 +0000

Quickly in reply. What is genuinely “surprising” is when a new government makes a promise to end (not “reduce” or “limit”) child detention but does precisely the opposite. Not only were 400+ children detained in 2010, but the new detention centre in Mid Sussex has the capacity to detain 4,500+ parents and children a year – i.e. the same capacity (more if you add Tinsley House to the equation) than Yarl’s Wood and Dungavel which were closed to much fanfare. If Nick Clegg wants the applause of the various campaign organisations and faith groups for ending the ‘state sponsored cruelty’ of child detention and given that it is a coalition mandate, the number of MPs he has or what you hypothetically think the electorate voted in favour or against is irrelevant. The tone of our article is not ‘snide’ – you belittle the suffering of the detained children and their families on whose behalf we have campaigned for many years by using such a term. Of course it is better that the numbers are lower than during the detention mania of the last Labour government but the dawn raids and the mistreatment of detainees has not stopped. Nor has the asylum bashing rhetoric that guarantees handsome profits for the detention industry and the continuing expansion of the biggest non-criminal prison system in western Europe. To quote David Cameron, this is quite simply ‘a scandal’ which, far from hiding it, our campaign has continued relentlessly to expose.

Comment on In Nick Clegg’s fantasy world, child detention in the UK has ended by Proud

Proud — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 21:52:51 +0000

Very quickly on this:

“The Liberal Democrat election manifesto pledged to do so much more than ending child detention. Asylum seekers would be permitted to work, “saving taxpayers’ money and allowing them the dignity of earning their living”. And there was the promised amnesty for “people who have been in Britain for 10 years, speak English, have a clean record and want to live here long term to earn their citizenship”.”

Sadly, the vast majority of the electorate voted against this, and the Lib Dems have only 57 MPs. It’s not surprising to me that the above hasn’t been able to happen, and anyone who voted Labour or Tory is to blame for that (perhaps Esme and Simon will confirm who they voted for).

You also give no credit whatsoever for the vastly reduced number of children detained at all, or indeed the vastly shorter periods of time for which ‘detention’ now occurs. Now it might not be perfect, and there may still be work to be done. But the snide tone of your article is bearly hidden.

Comment on UKBA ‘treats children well’ by ignoring doctor’s warning that young Nigerian girl was a suicide risk by End Child Detention Now » Blog Archive » In Nick Clegg’s fantasy world, child detention in the UK has ended

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 17:18:09 +0000

[...] also manages the contract for Tinsley House near Gatwick Airport where two years ago a 10-year-old Nigerian girl was found strangling herself with the cord of an electric kettle. The expensively refurbished [...]

Comment on G4S Under Fire by No to the Pre-Departure Prison – whatever you want to call it « Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:48:15 +0000

[...] final copncerns you may have, the whole prison, I mean accommodation centre, sorry, will be run by G4S. You know, the outfit that supplied the people to remove Jimmy Mubenga, who died whilst being [...]

Comment on New Edinburgh Festival family detention drama in London preview by Theatre: Fit for Purpose – Ceasefire Magazine

Theatre: Fit for Purpose – Ceasefire Magazine — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 08:53:51 +0000

[...] Fit for Purpose is showing in Edinburgh this August. [...]

Comment on Australia to deport hundreds of unaccompanied child refugees to Malaysian ‘Tenko’ by Résistance politique: Impérialisme et crime de l’occident… Le cas (silencieux) de l’invasion de l’Australie. « Resistance71 Blog

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 07:07:00 +0000

[...] de l’Ouest qui abrite un centre de détention pour réfugiés politiques illégaux. Il y a un projet d’extradition de ces réfugiés politiques vers une prison malaise, qui suscite une grosse controverse en Australie car cela s’applique à des [...]

Comment on Barnardo’s Telephone Protest Announced by Amanda Sebestyen

Amanda Sebestyen — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:01:33 +0000

I’m so shocked that Barnardo’s, of all people, is helping the government to break its promise to stop detaining children. How did you ever think that this would be acceptable on any level at all, given the documented evidence of the damage that detention does to children?

These children and their parents have not committed any crime.

If Barnardo’s and all the other children’s charities stuck together and refused to implement the new idea for turning Arora hotel into ‘secure accommodation’ – ie yet another kind of prison – then the government might well climb down.
There are historical precedents.