Ian Galloway: Inhumane practice of locking up immigrant children must stop

Published on Sunday 29 November 2009 22:44

THE Church of Scotland is careful in the language it uses when it expresses a view as an institution.

Which is why when at its assembly in May this year it "demanded" that the government end the detention of children who are asylum seekers, it was getting about as close as it gets as an institution to saying it was angry about something.

That's also why, when this year's Moderator, the Rt Rev Bill Hewitt, went for the annual meeting between the Moderator and the Prime Minister this week, this subject was on their agenda.

The Church believes that the mark of a nation's values is glimpsed in how it treats those most in need. It is also seen in how it expresses hospitality to unannounced strangers who arrive because they have nowhere to go.

Congregations throughout the country have tried, in a wide variety of ways, to be places of sanctuary and hope for those who arrive in our country from places of great trauma. It's what we do. We expect no plaudits for this work, for it is what should be expected of us in response to our faith.

It shocks us to the core therefore, that having fled great trauma, children continue to be locked up like criminals; once again experiencing great fear instead of hospitality. We cannot see what is being achieved by these detentions.

If they have committed no crime, the detention cannot be because these children are being punished. The only other reason people are locked up is to protect society from them. Who needs to be protected from these children? It would seem more likely that with this attitude it is they who need protecting from us.

This has become more than simply a theory for me. One of the first things I did as convener of the Church and Society Council was to intervene in the case of a detained child – 18 months later nothing has changed. We are still locking up young children.

Precious Mhango is the latest to come to our attention – ten years old, having lived more than six years in the UK, Precious is culturally and linguistically Glaswegian.

She is known, and wanted, in Cranhill, the east end community that has become her home. One adult from Cranhill told me tearfully that she would give up her place in the UK for Precious.

Some three months ago, Precious and her mother Florence were also detained for a time. According to people locally this produced a change in the character of Precious who went from being a cheerful, chatty presence to almost mute.

The current fast-track asylum system has many drawbacks; however under the previous method it simply is morally wrong to deport a mother and child after this length of time.

It adds injury to insult to detain them and lock them away from the people who know them and care about them. And to lock up more than 100 children in Dungavel in a year as we have done beggars belief.

While it is good to see MSPs from different political parties agreeing on this issue, it seems that efforts to bring about change at a Scottish level have so far had little impact on UK policy.

The Church of Scotland remains opposed, without qualification, to the detention of children. We know that immigration is a thorny issue for the UK government. We do not advocate having no system of decision-making about who can stay and who cannot amongst those who turn up on our shores unannounced.

We know that would be untenable, but that is no excuse for this continuing scandal of child imprisonment. We need it to stop now. Who will have the courage to govern humanely?

&#149 The Rev Ian Galloway is convener of the Church and Society Council of the Church of Scotland.