No Place For Children
The New Statesman No Place for Children campaign calls on the government to end the detention of children for immigration reasons
Features
Facing deportation
- By Katy Taylor
- 25 September 2008
Asylum seekers the Nukajem family are waiting in Yarls Wood detention to find out if they are to be sent home to Cameroon. Read their story...
No place for children petition
- 25 September 2008
Your chance to support the New Statesman's No Place for Children campaign: join Philip Pullman, Monica Ali, Nick Hornby and others in signing our petition calling for an end to the detention of children for immigration reasons
One step forward . . .
- By Alice O'Keeffe
- 25 September 2008
The government has announced a new commitment to equal rights for asylum-seeking children. Now they must put it into practice
A fair deal for children
- By Lisa Nandy
- 18 September 2008
The government claims to be looking into alternatives to detention for minors - but so far its pilot schemes have been disastrously flawed. There are more humane and effective options, writes Lisa Nandy of the Children's Society
Innocent prisoners
- By Gillian Slovo
- 11 September 2008
Only Asylum-seekers' children can be locked up without committing a crime. Gillian Slovo visited two families at Yarl's Wood. What she heard made her feel "numb"
“We are trying to find alternatives”
- By Liam Byrne
- 11 September 2008
The immigration minister defends detention for children
Hidden lives, public voices
- 04 September 2008
Broadcaster Esther Rantzen reads Morgan's story - part of our No Place for Children campaign
No place for children
- By Sir Al Aynsley-Green
- 04 September 2008
The UK has one of the worst records in Europe for detaining children but accurate figures on how many are detained, and for how long, remain hard to come by
A pointless and brutal practice
- By Natasha Walter
- 04 September 2008
Natasha Walter introduces the shocking cases of two young girls detained at Yarl's Wood
No place for children
- By Alice O'Keeffe
- 13 December 2007
Some 2,000 children pass through UK holding centres each year. Their imprisonment breaches a key UN Convention
Testimonies
Hidden lives, public voices part 2
- 09 October 2008
Juliet Stevenson reads the story of Tessa, who was sent to Yarl's Wood with her 1-year-old twins
Bethlehem's testimony
- 30 September 2008
"Once we got inside, it felt as if we were in prison for doing an awful crime"
“My dreams are not important to anyone”
- 04 September 2008
'Our first night in Yarl's Wood was just terrible. We couldn't eat and we couldn't sleep. There were special people there to look after my mum to stop her trying to kill herself again'
“The detainees have got pain in their eyes”
- By Meltem Avcil
- 04 September 2008
In my school report this summer, they said I was an excellent student. I am making a new start and one day I will show everyone what I am capable of. But I will never forget Yarl's Wood
Helene’s testimony
- 04 September 2008
'They put me and my baby in a kind of cage in the back of a van, like we were animals'
Katherine's testimony
- 04 September 2008
'I wanted to kill myself all the time I was there. And I think Joseph picked up on how I felt, because he cried so much. Some of his hair fell out, he wouldn’t eat and became ill'
Juliet's testimony
- 04 September 2008
'I hated to see my baby being locked up. They put you in one tiny room and there is not even a bed for the baby'
Danielle's testimony
- 04 September 2008
'Yarl’s Wood is a living hell, especially for children. They don’t have the right kind of milk for young children. I complained and they said he could drink what they gave us, or drink nothing at all'
The New Statesman No Place for Children campaign calls on the government to end the detention of children for immigration reasons
Every year, around 2,000 children pass through the UK’s immigration detention centres. They are there because their parents have applied for asylum in the UK. Detention is physically and emotionally damaging for children, as the detainees' testimonies so painfully demonstrate. In many cases, children have lived for most of their lives in Britain, and consider this country their home. Many subsequently receive refugee status, but children who have been detained remain deeply traumatised by their experiences.
We are also calling for key improvements to the system while the detention of children continues:
- Better independent oversight of the system
- Accurate records to be kept of all children in the immigration detention system: who are they, where are they, how old are they and how long have they been held?
- Welfare assessments to be made of all children on entry into detention
- Reasons for detention and reviews to be given to parents in their own languages
Over the coming weeks the New Statesman will report on children in immigration detention: the policies, the human stories, and possible alternative approaches. We hope that readers will get involved by signing a petition, launched later in September, and by supporting the campaign’s backers Women for Refugee Women, The Children's Society, Bail for Immigration Detainees (Bid) and 11 Million.
Together with our readers, the New Statesman hopes to send the government a clear message: the UK’s policy of incarcerating innocent minors must stop. Immigration detention centres are no place for children.
When I went to Yarl's Wood and met children who were detained I was deeply shocked by the brutality of their treatment. It is time for people in Britain to stand up and say we should not be locking up innocent children. Seeking asylum is not a crime.Juliet Stephenson
Liam Byrne, Border and Immigration Minister, responds:
We are absolutely clear that UK Border Agency’s treatment of children must be as sensitive as possible. That's why we've transformed our children’s policy, and even legislated to impose a duty on UKBA to keep children safe from harm. We would only ever detain children so they can stay together with their parents, which is where they are safest - we never want to split up families. And we are actively testing alternatives to detention which we'll roll out when we know they work and offer the best possible protection.
