Medical Dossier Exposes UKBA's Ongoing Child Abuse

Following a long campaign to provide support to detained asylum seekers, the charity Medical Justice has amassed a large amount of detailed information on the harm caused to children when they are detained by the UK Borders Authority (UKBA) in Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs).

Although the Deputy Prime Minister stated on 21st July 2010  that the detention of children would cease, it is continuing. This raises doubts as to whether Nick Clegg's utterances are taken seriously within government. Was he lying when he said that this practice, which he called 'state sponsored cruelty' would end? Or is he just a liberal fig-leaf for a coalition government that does not act on his word?

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Despite Nick Clegg's announcement, UKBA have detained children at Yarl's Wood as recently as Monday 6th Sept 2010.

Today Medical Justice publishes its report "‘State Sponsored Cruelty': Children in immigration detention", presenting the key findings from the UK's first large scale investigation into the harms caused by detaining children for immigration purposes.

Jon Burnett, one of the authors of the report, said, "The fact that UKBA is still detaining children at Yarl's Wood despite announcements to the contrary raises serious questions about the consistency between the will of government and the actions of UKBA. The government must now show it is in control of UKBA. It must order and ensure the release of any detained children today and stop what the Deputy Prime Minister correctly refers to as ‘state sponsored cruelty'. The dossier of evidence we are publishing brings to light the extent to which detaining children causes harm, suffering, and anguish. Children have attempted to end their own lives, and have been left seriously physically and psychologically damaged".

As was recently reported, the forced removal of children and families in 'dawn raids' has been stopped after a long campaign. Asylum seeker families in the North of England are still terrorised by UKBA, who force them to attend 'reporting centres' such as Waterside Court in Leeds. When asylum seekers report to these places they may not be allowed to leave, instead to find themselves assaulted and forcibly transported to an IRC. For single men, this could be Lindholme IRC near Doncaster; in the case of families with children, it is more likely to be Yarl's Wood in Bedfordshire. This practice has been resisted by many groups including Leeds No Borders.

Conditions inside Yarl's Wood have been found to be wholly inadequate, even by the government's own inspector of prisons. There has been regular resistance to the regime there, for example the hunger strike earlier this year, which sparked solidarity actions across the North of England and beyond.

Today's publication follows preposterous attempts by UKBA to belittle previous medical research into the harm caused to children by IRCs. Now the Medical Justice report reveals the ways in which children are harmed, in more detail than ever before. Illustrated with drawings from children who have survived their experiences, and others, it is a horrific read.

Attached Files

State-sponsored cruelty - summary report

State-sponsored cruelty - full report

Links:

Medical Justice campaign

No Borders Network

Student Action for Refugees

National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns

Positive Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers (PAFRAS)

Solace - Surviving Exile and Persecution

Counselling for asylum seekers and refugees

Contact email: marker@indymedia.org