Around 2,000 children are detained for immigration purposes in the UK each year, an experience likened to being in prison. They are the only children in the UK who can be locked up indefinitely without having committed a crime.
These are either the children of asylum seekers or migrants, and are detained with their families, or children the Government believes are actually aged over 18. Some were born in the UK and many don't remember another home - on visiting Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre, near Bedford, one of three centres where children are held, Children's Commissioner for England Sir Al Aynsley-Green noted that many of the children spoke with regional British accents.
'It is a national scandal,' states Sarah Campbell, spokesperson for Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID), which prepares and presents bail applications on behalf of asylum-seekers and immigrants. Between October 2008 and February 2009 it supported 28 families with an average detention period of 6.5 weeks.
'We regularly see the terrible effects that detention has on children,' she says. 'The children often experience depression, weight loss, bed-wetting and, in some cases, self-harm. In one case, an eight-year-old girl developed post-traumatic stress disorder when her family was detained for over a month. In February 2009, the family was awarded £150,000 compensation after the Government admitted their detention had been unlawful.
'Children tell us they feel like they are being held in prison - with big gates, locked doors and people in uniforms.'
Families' physical health can suffer while being held, with detainees reporting a lack of confidence in the medical staff. Another common problem is food, with canteen options limited. Many children have difficulty eating because of the stress, leading to loss of weight. Education also suffers. In Yarl's Wood children are taught in two classes: five- to 11-year-olds and 11- to 16-year-olds. 'Families tell us their children do not have access to the standard of education that they would expect to receive in a normal school and their academic development is affected,' explains Ms Campbell. 'If they are released from detention, children often have difficulties when they return to school, especially if they have lost their school place or been moved to a new area.'
Under arrest
The actual process of detention, conducted by the UK Border Agency (UKBA), can be extremely distressing for children. 'Families tell stories of dawn raids and instances of people detained as they come out of school. There are stories of whole schools campaigning because a classmate has suddenly disappeared into detention. It is traumatic for the whole community,' says Jessica Nott, London programme manager for Save the Children.
'It is such an incredible amount of stress for children to be put under. Families do get detained for the wrong reasons and may be in detention for two to three weeks before being put back into the community. Parents are stressed that they are going to be sent back to a country where they feel unsafe. Once the children are back in their community they can struggle to cope with the experience and worry it will happen again. Immigration concerns should not be put over and above the need to treat children as children.'
A report by 11 Million, the Children's Commissioner's office (see Further information), found significant discrepancies between policy guidelines and what happens in practice to children and families during arrest, transportation and detention. Deputy children's commissioner Sue Berelowitz says, 'Our starting point is that children should not be detained at all because detention for any time has a deleterious effect on children.
'We're concerned to work with the UKBA, as long as children are detained, to ensure that their health and wellbeing is properly catered for, and the health and wellbeing of their parents, because children's wellbeing depends on that.'
Key report recommendations for the Government and UKBA include:
- UKBA should develop community-based alternatives to detention (a pilot has been launched in Glasgow in June, which 11 Million will be visiting)
- Detention must only be used in exceptional circumstances, as a measure of last resort and for the shortest possible time
- Government should monitor the detention of children in line with international human rights
- UKBA needs to develop a fair and transparent decision-making process.
In response, a UKBA spokesperson said, 'We only detain those who refuse to comply with the decision of the independent courts and then do not leave Britain voluntarily. The report overlooks this vital point.
'If people refuse to go home then detention becomes a necessity. We don't want to split up families, so we hold children with their parents, and while they are in our care we treat them with sensitivity and compassion. This inspection took place over a year ago and since then we have made even further progress, with Yarl's Wood Removal Centre praised on numerous occasions for its children's facilities. Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons praised us for the "significant progress" we made. We now have full-time independent social workers, and a range of trained experts to monitor welfare 24 hours a day.'
Also positive is the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009, passed last month, which has put duty on the UKBA to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, but children's organisations are pushing for the Department for Children, Schools and Families to take responsibility for children seeking asylum because it has the relevant expertise. Then, they say, the Government could start to live up to the policy claim that 'Every Child Matters'.
Further information
- The Children's Society and Bail for Immigration Detainees are campaigning for an end to immigration detention of families and children, under the banner OutCry!, www.outcrycampaign.org.uk
- 'The Arrest and Detention of Children Subject to Immigration Control' by 11 Million, www.11million.org.uk
- 'No Place for a Child: Children in UK immigration detention - Impacts, alternatives and safeguards' by Save the Children, www.savethechildren.org.uk
CASE STUDIES
- 'The first time we went into detention, my son was a baby, and he didn't really know what was happening. But the second time, he was over a year old, and it was telling on him. He wasn't sleeping. It's not only him, all the children in detention, they don't sleep. At 2am, 3am, 4am they are up and running. As their parents don't sleep, they don't sleep. So it really did affect him because he was a very happy child, but when we left detention this second time he just started withdrawing. Before, he was not the kind of child that was clinging on to me too much, he loved going to other people. But when we left this second time, when I am holding him and someone comes to take him he becomes withdrawn and aggressive.'
Helen and her British-born son have been in detention twice
- 'It was like "oh my God, we are going to be detained in prison". There were security guards everywhere, and the children wanted to go outside. For them to stay in the room, lock the door when we enter a room, it was like a prison. And even my daughter and younger sister knew; they were asking, "Is this a prison?" They were asking that because the security guards were around the building and walking around all the time. They asked so many questions without a break, and the children were hungry and after asking them many times, after they had taken all the records, they gave us a drink of water. And they were asking questions of the children - "What's your name?", things like that.'
Jenna's family, including her infant daughter and seven-year-old sister, were detained for over five weeks
- Case studies from 'Out of sight, out of mind: experiences of immigration detention in the UK' by Bail for Immigration detainees, www.biduk.org
