Observations on detention

While President Obama has announced his intention to close Guantanamo Bay, another, more low-key battle is being fought in the UK for the rights of detained foreign nationals. Detained Lives, a controversial report by the London Detainee Support Group (LDSG), outlines how failed asylum-seekers in the UK are routinely being detained for prolonged or unlimited periods of time.

Some of the report’s findings are astounding: 188 of the roughly 1,400 detainees supported by the charity since April 2007 had been detained at Colnbrook, Dover or Harmondsworth for at least a year, 46 for more than two years and some for longer than three.

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) publishes few statistics on the duration of detention, but the findings of this small regional charity suggest that, of the approximately 3,000 people in immigration removal centres in the UK, a significant number have been there for longer than a year.

Liam Byrne, the former border and immigration minister, defined the purpose of the UKBA estate as detaining failed asylum-seekers “prior to removal” and “allowing the fast removal of those who come to Britain and break the rules”. However, for many failed asylum-seekers, removal – whether voluntary or forced – just isn’t possible. Jerome Phelps, director of the LDSG, argues that a considerable number of detainees cannot be returned to their country of origin. Foreign and Commonwealth Office advice against unnecessary travel prevents forced removals to Iraq or Somalia, while Algerian and Iranian refugees are not recognised as nationals by their embassies unless they can provide an original birth certificate – often impossible.

The report describes the deeply damaging effects of indefinite long-term detention, especially for people who have suffered abuse before coming to the UK. Karim Benhamou, detained by British immigration for eight years, said: “They have tampered with my brain in here . . . I’m losing my mind, the endless process, this hell of imprisonment.” Rafik Bouzid witnessed his room-mate’s self-harming. “I seen very bad things in this place . . . people in here going crazy and they cut themselves . . . I’ve seen lots of people cutting themselves.”

The Detained Lives report not only highlights long-term detention, it also strongly indicates the wider problem of de facto statelessness among failed

asylum-seekers. It is likely that tens of thousands of people in the UK have reached the end of an unsuccessful asylum application. According to a recent report by the National Audit Office, a fifth of cases are irresolvable, due to “external factors which can prevent the Agency from either removing the applicants or allowing them to stay in the UK”.

Statelessness affects 15 million people throughout the world. Many of Britain’s failed asylum-seekers are in this position. They cannot work or claim benefits. Some rely on friends; others work illegally or steal or beg in order to live. Mohammed, 26, does not have the documents that would allow his return to Mauritania; breaking the law is one of his greatest fears. He is not allowed to work, but relies entirely on his friends to support him. “It’s very frustrating for me, especially now I have a family. I want to work, for my family and for myself.”

Many of the detainees will have broken the law, served a criminal sentence and been transferred to a removal centre for deportation. If they cannot be deported, they can be detained indefinitely. Alison Harvey, general secretary of the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association, argues that we need to move away from the unhelpful distinction between “good” and “bad” immigrants. “There will be a variety of reasons why people have been in prison – including working without permission, working longer than is permitted, or using false documents – and those convicted for that do still include people who used the documents to flee persecution.”

The LDSG is urging the government to meet its obligations under the 1954 convention relating to the status of stateless people, and provide temporary or permanent leave for those unable to return to their country of origin. Moreover, the report recommends allowing them to participate in British society, including having the right to work.

For the time being, however, there is no need to look as far as Guantanamo for examples of statelessness, or hopelessness.

As Ahmed, 24, from Darfur, puts it: “I have no future at all. I am lost. I can’t imagine that there is something called future.”

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