Immigration Detention - Pregnant women will continue to be detained
Categories: Articles:Asylum & Refugees |
Published: 10/09/2013 |
Views: 1563
Lord Hylton to ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the effectiveness of detaining pregnant women, and (2) the views on that matter of the organisations which signed Asylum Aid's Charter of Rights of Women Seeking Asylum.[HL2191] The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Taylor of Holbeach): Detention is a vital and effective tool in supporting the enforced return of persons with no lawful basis of stay in the UK who choose not to leave voluntarily. This applies equally to pregnant women.
Pregnant women are detained only in limited circumstances, where their removal is imminent and medical advice does not suggest their confinement before the due removal date. Pregnant women who are less than 24 weeks' pregnant may also be detained in the asylum Detained Fast Track process. The recommendation in the Charter of Rights of Women Seeking Asylum that women who are at any stage of pregnancy or who are breastfeeding should not be detained was not accepted. That remains our position.
House of Lords 09/09/13
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