End Child Detention Now

SPEAKING OUT AGAINST CHILD DETENTION

‘Whenever I hear about children from foreign countries being put into detention centres, I think how lucky I am to be living at number 32 Windsor Gardens with such nice people as Mr. and Mrs. Brown. Mrs. Bird, who looks after the Browns, says if she had her way she would set the children free and lock up a few politicians in their place to see how they liked it!’ Paddington Bear, with thanks to Michael Bond.

‘There is no more irrevocable evil than that of adults being cruel to children. Imprisoned children become terrified of the whole grown-up world and their hearts are broken forever. I want to be no part of an adult society that considers the detention of innocent children to be a necessary evil. Evil, while it may often be cheap and convenient, is never necessary. Evil is precisely the stuff we would not do to our own kids. Every reasonable adult must surely see the issue of child detention in that light, and rise to the simple moral challenge being made by the campaign to End Child Detention Now.’ Chris Cleave, author.

‘It is over a year since the UK Government fully opted in to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, yet they continue to breach it every day by locking up vulnerable children in immigration detention centres. The Scottish National Party has always stood in opposition to this affront to justice, compassion and common decency.’ Christina McKelvie, MSP.

‘A woman I knew, a Quaker, once said to me, “I’m not sure of anything, except this: If you see someone about to harm a child, you must act.” If we saw a government minister about to strike a child and knock it down, every one of us would leap forward instinctively to grab his arm. What is being done in our name in locking up these poor innocents is worse than a blow from a grown man’s hand – it can do life-long damage. Three cheers for everyone involved in this campaign. I’m glad to add my name to the list which I hope will grow and grow’. Lynne Reid Banks, author.

‘It’s hard to think of a good reason to imprison a small child under any circumstances, but there can be no possible justification for locking up children simply because their parents are desperate enough to seek our help. It’s a horrifying practice which shames all of us’. Colin Firth, actor.

‘It’s appalling to think small children are treated so brutally, transported in cages and locked up for months. We need to stop such harsh detaining of asylum-seeking children. Good luck with the campaign.’ Jacqueline Wilson, author.

‘However humanely they are treated, detention is a deeply traumatic solution for most children. Everything possible should be done to avoid it.’ Chris Mullin, MP.

‘Any imprisonment is traumatising, but imprisoning children who have not robbed, or shot anyone, children who by their very nature look to adults for love and support must be seen as child cruelty. It doesn’t matter if the child is locked up in a room at the back of a house, or a room at the back of a field, it will affect, and stay with the child for the rest of its life.’ Benjamin Zephaniah, poet.

‘Our task is to end child suffering, not to add to it by detention. Who wants to answer the question: ‘What did you do for a child today?’ with ‘I locked her/him up?’ Peter Bottomley, MP.

‘Whether these children in the detention centres are going to be British citizens or not is irrelevant. If they are in our country they are our responsibility. Regardless of whether they are given play areas or paint, or picture books in their own language, their basic human needs are for them to have some kind of stability with the people who love them. Even if they are to be deported, these children should have an enriching experience while they are here so that they can carry that experience with them wherever they go, and if they stay, they will already have had some help in integrating into a society that welcomes them.’ Michelle Magorian, author.

‘When will we understand that there is no such thing as ‘their’ children. All children are our children, so when we give our consent to the abuse and imprisonment of one child, in effect, we give our consent to the imprisonment and abuse of any child. STOP DETENTION NOW.’ Gwen Grant, author.

‘It is beyond belief that this Labour government is locking up children of any kind. That these children are highly vulnerable people in some kind of transit situation, almost certainly fleeing from terrible conditions, often in parts of the world where this very same Labour government has caused death, destruction and mayhem, utterly sickens me. I call on every single person who hears of what’s going on with the detention of asylum-seeking children to write, petition and demonstrate against it. My suspicions are that the motive behind such inhuman treatment are crude electoral ones, in which this government is allowing itself to be driven by anti-asylum-seeking press barons and the British National Party. Make no mistake about it, the UK has obligations towards asylum seekers and it has obligations towards children. At present, it looks very much as if we’re reneging on those obligations. This is to their great shame and we must do all we can to break the legislation, custom and practice that is allowing them to carry on in this way.’ Michael Rosen, former Children’s Laureate.

‘It’s pretty much impossible to believe that a country that insists on protecting the rights of its own children while locking up those who arrive from war torn shores with little but hope in their stomachs, is allowed to get away with such actions. Well, not on our watch, you won’t.’ Anna Perera, author.

‘The shocking and brutal act of locking up innocent children is unacceptable. To take the poor, frightened and needy and to criminalise them, to subject them to such terror, is nothing short of child abuse. Yet where are the protests? Is the UK really willing to excuse this abuse simply because it happens to the children of ‘outsiders’? Well, not in my name. Child detention is a shameful and inhuman policy, accepted only in the worst of illiberal regimes. It is NOT acceptable in the UK and must stop now.’ Bali Rai, author.

‘To persecute a child who flees persecution; to imprison a child who flees imprisonment; to abuse a child who flees abuse: these are acts of barbarism, not of civilisation. We should be ashamed to place our own desire for security above a child’s need for compassion.’ John Dougherty, author, poet, songwriter.

‘A society is judged by the way that it treats its most vulnerable members. Children are certainly among the most vulnerable, so why are they being locked up, treated like criminals and traumatised? What has happened to Britain’s sense of justice and compassion for the underdog? As mature and humane people, let us all work to protect the vulnerable.’ Debjani Chatterjee MBE, award-winning poet and children’s author.

‘What kind of country are we? Our government ratifies the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child but locks up children refused asylum on our shores. When shall we face the mirror of shame?’ Beverley Naidoo, Carnegie Medal-winning novelist.

‘How shocking it is to know that children are subjected to such indifference and injustice. It’s deeply shaming and it must stop.’ Jamila Gavin, author.

‘We are one of the world’s richest countries, we should treat ALL children with kindness. To do otherwise is inhuman.’ Catherine Johnson, novelist and screenwriter.

BISHOP OF RIPON & LEEDS STATEMENT ON CHILD DETENTION

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.

With the Children’s Commissioner, Royal College of Psychiatrists, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, Royal College of General Practitioners, the Children Society and many other bodies concerned with the well being of children I believe the continued incarceration of children to be a shameful practice for our society in terms of child welfare and human rights and must stop.

The continued detention of children must stop. I call on the Secretary of State to introduce humane-community based arrangements for children and families which recognise the need to put the welfare of children first, at the earliest opportunity.

+ John Ripon and Leeds