Minister is urged to end 'cruel' child detention centre stays

Published on Sunday 20 December 2009 22:18

HOME Secretary Alan Johnson has been urged to end the "cruel and unnecessary" practice of holding children in immigration detention centres, after it emerged that almost 1,000 have been detained for a month or more in recent years.

Figures released by the Home Office earlier this year in response to a question from SNP MP Pete Wishart showed that 889 children from 488 families were referred to a minister for detention for more than 28 days between April 2004 and September 2009.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne yesterday wrote to Mr Johnson urging him to consider the plight of children who will spend Christmas locked up in the centres.

"I am writing today to request that you formally end the policy of detaining children in immigration detention centres," Mr Huhne wrote. "It is my belief that this policy is unnecessary, and can cause untold and irrevocable mental and emotional damage to the children involved.

Mr Huhne said that nearly 500 children were held in immigration centres at any one time because their parents were failed asylum seekers or illegal immigrants.

He added: "It is profoundly unBritish to lock up innocent children at any time, but particularly poignant at Christmas."

A spokesman for the UK Border Agency said: "Treating children with care and compassion is a priority for the agency.

"When the independent courts find a family has no need for protection, we expect them to return home, rather than putting in frivolous appeals that clog the legal system."

His call came two days after ten-year-old Precious Mhango, from Glasgow and her mother Florence were released from Yarl's Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire.

Precious, who has lived in Scotland since she was three, is reported to have lost 10lb and become anxious and withdrawn during her three-week stay in the centre.