These children are torn from their homes, their communities and their friends, locked up for an indeterminate length of time, and denied adequate education and health care. Their only crime is to have parents who have applied for asylum in the UK.

This week the New Statesman launches a major campaign, No Place for Children, which calls for an end to the practice of detaining children for immigration reasons. Together with our backers - the Children's Commissioner for England, the Children's Society, Bail for Immigration Detainees and Women for Refugee Women - we believe the current situation reflects shamefully on a government that prioritises appearing "tough on immigration" over the welfare of innocent young people.

In the coming weeks, the NS will run regular reports on this important issue, and encourage our readers to get involved in the campaign by signing a petition to be launched later in September. With your help, we hope to show the government that every child really does matter, including and especially the most vulnerable.
 http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2008/09/education-children-immigration

All articles on this page published by New Statesman, 4th September 2008

"The detainees have got pain in their eyes" / Meltem Avcil
In my school report this summer, they said I was an excellent student. I am making a new start and one day I will show everyone what I am capable of. But I will never forget Yarl's Wood. I was in Yarl's Wood for three months. For education, I got maths for nine-year-olds and jigsaw puzzles. They don't give you a proper education in Yarl's Wood, and anyway I don't think you can get educated when you know you're in prison. I saw a mother crying for her baby because she couldn't take it to health care, though the baby was vomiting and had a high temperature.
 http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2008/09/yarl-wood-school-mum-took

Helen's testimony
'Yarl's Wood is a living hell, especially for children. They don't have the right kind of milk for young children. I complained and they said he could drink what they gave us, or drink nothing at all'
 http://www.newstatesman.com/global-issues/2008/09/yarl-wood-children-drink

Katherine's testimony
'I wanted to kill myself all the time I was there. And I think Joseph picked up on how I felt, because he cried so much. Some of his hair fell out, he wouldn't eat and became ill'
 http://www.newstatesman.com/global-issues/2008/09/yarls-wood-testimony-katherine

Juliet's testimony
'I hated to see my baby being locked up. They put you in one tiny room and there is not even a bed for the baby'
 http://www.newstatesman.com/global-issues/2008/09/yarl-wood-baby-locked-milk

"My dreams are not important to anyone" / Jasmine Ingrid
'Our first night in Yarl's Wood was just terrible. We couldn't eat and we couldn't sleep. There were special people there to look after my mum to stop her trying to kill herself again'
Full article: New Statesman, Published 04 September 2008
 http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2008/09/yarl-wood-mum-cameroon-trying

Brigitte's testimony
'They came to take to take us to Yarl's Wood about 4 o'clock in the morning. It was me, my baby and my husband. They put me and my baby in a kind of cage in the back of a van, like we were animals. I was crying and I couldn't stop and the baby didn't understand what was happening. They took my husband to another detention centre. Nobody would tell me where they had taken him. Every day I asked where my husband was but I was just ignored.
 http://www.newstatesman.com/global-issues/2008/09/yarls-wood-testimony-brigitte

No place for children / Sir Al Aynsley-Green
It is shameful that UK law allows children who are not British to be detained without time limits and without judicial oversight. Many of the 2,000 or so children detained for administrative convenience every year have been here seeking asylum with their families. Others arrive on their own and are detained because, in the absence of identification papers, the immigration authorities refuse to believe that they are children.

The UK has one of the worst records in Europe for detaining children. However, accurate figures on how many children are detained, and for how long, remain hard to come by, despite repeated requests to the government from campaigners and parliamentarians for better information. Without such data, how can we be reassured by the government's claim that detention is used "only when absolutely necessary and for the shortest possible time"?
Full article: New Statesman, Published 04 September 2008
 http://www.newstatesman.com/law-and-reform/2008/09/children-detention-immigration


A pointless and brutal practice / Natasha Walter
Having worked as a journalist for the past 15 years, I have met quite a few people with heart-rending stories to tell, and whose courage in overcoming adversity has been extraordinary. But some of the people whose experiences have moved me the most I have met right here in the UK, and they are children.
Full article: New Statesman, Published 04 September 2008
 http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2008/09/yarl-wood-detained-meltem

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