End Child Detention Now

• Model letter for MPs calling for IMMEDIATE end to child detention.

  Dear MP

  The new coalition government has made a welcome commitment to end child immigration detention. This announcement has been long awaited by both refugee communities and campaigners. I was therefore shocked and distressed to learn that less than a week after the end of child detention was announced that an 8 month old baby and her mother had been arrested and detained in Dungavel immigration removal centre.

  It is now widely recognised that, as reported in last year's independent medical review (Lorek et al, 'The mental and physical health difficulties of children held within a British immigration detention center', Child Abuse and Neglect, 33, 2009), even short periods of detention cause children and young people lasting physical and psychological damage including weight-loss, depression, self-harm and bedwetting. There is also evidence to show that families with children are very unlikely to abscond while living in their own communities. Given this evidence, as well as the massive costs involved in detaining families in immigration detention centres, I ask you to call on the government to honour its pledge to end child immigration detention immediately.

  Yours sincerely

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• End child detention in the news

  • The Guardian: Yarl's Wood itself is the moral outrage July 24, 2010
    The deputy prime minister's announcement to parliament that the family wing at Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre is to close is an important, but partial, step towards restoring the rights of some of the most vulnerable members of our society. The "moral outrage" expressed by Nick Clegg reflects only that expressed by immigrant famil […]
    jt.townend
  • BBC News - Family wing at Yarl's Wood detention centre to close July 24, 2010
    "Children will no longer be held at Yarl's Wood immigration detention centre in Bedfordshire, the government has pledged. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg told parliament the government would "close Yarl's Wood Detention Centre for good". The Home Office then had to clarify that only the family unit would close, but the adult facilit […]
    jt.townend
  • The Guardian: Clegg signals end of child detention with Yarl's Wood family unit closure July 24, 2010
    "The family wing of Yarl's Wood immigration centre is to be closed as part of government plans to end the detention of children awaiting deportation, Nick Clegg announced today. The move was hailed by the Liberal Democrats as a sign of their influence in the coalition although it was also mired in confusion." […]
    jt.townend
  • Telegraph: Yarl's Wood immigration centre treated children in a shameful way June 18, 2010
    A shameful account of institutional incompetence is delivered by a report published this week about Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre. The treatment of children detained there had already caused the Children’s Commissioner and the Chief Inspector of Prisons to express concern, and now it’s clearer than ever that this centre must be closed. […]
    jt.townend
  • The Independent: Yarl's Wood staff criticised over sex case June 15, 2010
    Social workers have come under fire for failing to properly investigate cases of two five-year-old boys found engaging in sexual activity at Yarl's Wood detention centre. […]
    jt.townend
  • Hugh Muir's diary | Politics | The Guardian June 15, 2010
    After all the fuss about conditions at Yarl's Wood detention centre – the hunger strikes, and myriad complaints about the treatment of children – an exciting development. Chris Hyman, the boss of Serco, which runs the place, is now a CBE. Amanda Read, child welfare issues manager for the UK Border Agency, an MBE. Don't worry, be happy. It's al […]
    jt.townend
  • Yarl's Wood staff criticised for poor investigation into child sex case | UK news | The Guardian June 15, 2010
    Detention centre did not deal properly with case of five-year-old boys found engaging in sexual activity, report finds. […]
    jt.townend
  • Community Care: Yarl's Wood children failed by social workers, says report June 14, 2010
    Social workers failed to take any action to protect two five year-old-boys, engaged in sexual activity at Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre last year, because they felt they were too young to know what they were doing, according to an independent report by Bedfordshire Local Safeguarding Children Board. […]
    jt.townend
  • Suspicion of migrants is deep-rooted – but not fixed | Beverley Naidoo | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk June 14, 2010
    Last month, former children's commissioner Al Aynsley-Green called for a fundamental change in the culture and mindset of government, civil service and those implementing our asylum laws. But the problem is deeper. Government reflects wide public indifference to the fate of asylum seekers, rooted in fears around immigration and "the other". Wh […]
    jt.townend
  • UK to deport child asylum seekers to Afghanistan | UK news | The Guardian June 7, 2010
    The UK Border Agency is to set up a £4m "reintegration centre" in Afghanistan so that it can start deporting unaccompanied child asylum seekers to Kabul from Britain, the Guardian can disclose. The terms of the official tender for the centre show that immigration officials initially hope to forcibly return 12 boys a month aged under 18 to Afghanist […]
    jt.townend

• Other campaigns

  • Bail for Immigration Detainees
  • Citizens for Sanctuary
  • JCORE – Jewish Council for Racial Equality
  • Medical Justice
  • ncadc
  • Outcry!
  • Positive Action in Housing
  • Still Human Still Here
  • Women Against Rape & BWRAP
  • Women for Refugee Women
  • Women's Therapy Centre

• Recent Posts

  • Child refugees discuss their experiences on Woman’s Hour
  • UNICEF – “Put It Right” Campaign Launches with exclusive Radiohead “videotape” track.
  • In celebration of ordinary lives
  • Yarl’s Wood is the Moral Outrage
  • Deputy Prime Minister Confirms Yarl’s Wood Family Unit To Close

• Model Letter in response to Home Office disinformation

  WHAT TO DO IF YOU GET A REPLY FROM YOUR MP WITH A COPY OF A HOME OFFICE LETTER JUSTIFYING THE CONTINUED DETENTION OF CHILDREN.

  The UKBA is fond of sending out formulaic letters above the signatures of its ministers and senior officials, often via MPs who raise the concerns of constituents about child detention. Such letters are designed to mislead, to pretend that the government would really rather not lock up families but that it is forced to do so because parents refuse to be removed after all legal remedies have been exhausted, that the detention of such families is for the shortest possible time and any delay is due to 'vexatious' legal action by those with no right to stay. Also that while in detention, children are treated with care and compassion and suffer no trauma or infringement of their rights.

  ECDN has produced a carefully researched rebuttal of the current Meg Hillier response which you can download here. Please adapt and rephrase in your own words when replying to your MP or to the Home Office if you have received the correspondence directly.

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