Media coverage on children in detention

Media coverage on children in detention from 11 - 18 December prepared by Medical Justice

• Posted on Dec 22, 2009

Media coverage on children in detention from 11 - 18 December prepared by Medical Justice http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/

Daily Mail : "Brown attacked for not scrapping asylum policy that leaves hundreds of children behind bars at Christmas"
"Gordon Brown was last night accused of 'moral cowardice' for failing to scrap a controversial asylum policy that will see hundreds of innocent children spend Christmas behind bars. In an open letter to the Prime Minister, the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg urged him to bring an immediate end to the policy of locking up the children of families who are facing possible deportation. Mr Clegg said the policy 'shamed Britain' and did nothing to tackle the problem of illegal asylum seekers. " Read the article. http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/996/69/

Independent : "It is not only the young who suffer"
"The plight of innocent children is used as a way to infiltrate hearts – and wallets. Children's writers have been discovering a new activist side recently. ... Now – and this is not quite so fine and reasonable in my view – we have Michael Bond and his delightful creation, Paddington Bear, writing to Downing Street, among a host of literary and theatre people, to protest against the detention of child asylum-seekers." Read the article. http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/1002/69/

"Minister: We must lock up asylum children like Precious, to stop them ending up dead in lorries"
"Closing Dungavel detention centre to families and children would "end up with dead bodies in lorries in Calais" by boosting the human trafficking trade, immigration minister Phil Woolas claimed yesterday. Mr Woolas said the "horrible reality" of the modern world was that failed asylum-seekers and their families needed to be kept under lock and key to deter the trade in human traffic. Read the article. http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/993/69/

BBC : "Promises, promises: Tinsley House children detained by the immigration authorities"
"Breaking a promise to a child is a pretty mean thing to do... When inspectors paid a surprise visit to a removal centre near Gatwick in October, they found conditions had actually got worse since they last inspected the facility." Read the article. http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/991/69/

Guardian : "Detention centre branded 'unacceptable' for women and children"
"Chief inspector of prisons slams conditions at privately run Tinsley House, including the use of force on two children. Conditions ... have deteriorated so much that they are now "wholly unacceptable" for women and children, the chief inspector of prisons says today. Read the article. http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/984/69/

HMIP on Tinsley House : "arrangements for children and single women were now wholly unacceptable"
"Overall, this is a deeply depressing report. Provision across a number of areas at Tinsley House had deteriorated since our last visit. In particular, the arrangements for children and single women were now wholly unacceptable and required urgent action by G4S and UKBA." Read the report. http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/983/78/

Independent : Letter - Sir Al Aynsley-Green
"The heartfelt appeal from the children's writers and illustrators adds yet another voice to the growing calls to end the practice of detaining children and young people for immigration purposes". Read the letter. http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/985/69/

Independent : Letter - John Rebecchi
"... the parents of these children have probably put them through quite frightening ordeals just in getting to the UK. If they are genuine applicants then surely being in such a centre, with all the protection that our legal system provides them, is worth the wait for the whole family. Read the letter. http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/986/69/

Independent : "Locking up children shames us"
"The lasting damage caused at Yarl's Wood is apparently not our problem. As the decade dwindles to its end and we await the avalanche of reviews, could there be a more heartrending snapshot of Noughties Britain than Father Christmas being turned away by guards at an immigration centre's gates?". More. http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/987/69/

Independent : Letter - End Child Detention Now campaign
"Mary Dejevsky ("It's not only the young who suffer", 15 December), accuses those campaigning for an end to child detention of being simultaneously guileless, cynically selective in their empathy, and avaricious. ". Read the letter. http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/988/69/

Independent : Letter - Beverley Naidoo
"Mary Dejevsky believes "Children's writers have been discovering a new activist side recently". Read the letter. http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/989/69/

Press Release : Refugee children, Paddington and Jeremy Corbyn to ask PM to stop child detention
"Young refugees from Kosovo are due to deliver a petition to Number 10 Downing Street calling for the end of the government’s arrest and detention of asylum seeking children. They will give Mr Brown a Paddington Bear with an extra luggage label attached...". Read the press release. http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/990/69/

Community Care : "End child detention, Paddington and refugees tell Gordon Brown"
"It's freezing outside Number 10 late afternoon on Thursday. We've come to Downing Street, Alban, his friends and me, to urge Gordon Brown to stop detaining children and their parents in prison-like conditions. Read the article. http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/992/69/

Guardian : "Inside Yarl's Wood immigration centre"
Author Beverley Naidoo, who herself first came to the UK seeking refuge, is moved and saddened by the plight of children she meets detained in a UK immigration centre. Read the article. http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/994/69/

BBC : "Nick Clegg urges end to child detention 'cruelty'"
""Holding hundreds of children in immigration detention centres is "state-sponsored cruelty", says Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg. In an open letter to Gordon Brown, he says the practice is indefensible and causes children mental distress. He also accuses the government of trying to "cover up" the practice by not releasing figures of children held." Read the article. http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/995/69/

Debate : "When will the Government act to end this disgraceful practice ?" - Read the debate. http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/1000/56/

PQ - Pete Wishart : if children detained for 28+ days at Christmas - Read the PQ. http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/997/81/

PQ - Pete Wishart : children at Yarl's Wood during Christmas 2009 - Read the PQ. http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/998/81/

PQ - Pete Wishart : how many children to be detained during Christmas 2009 - Read the PQ. http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/999/81/

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