Too Many Children Held in Immigration "Prisons"

30 Nov 2009

Diane Abbott MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington has joined MPs from all political parties in calling on the Government to end the detention of immigrant children.

The move comes after the cross-party Home Affairs Select Committee slammed the policy of detaining too many children, for too long in immigration detention centres that they described as “essentially prisons”. Chair of the Committee Keith Vaz MP said:

"These children have done nothing wrong. They should not be being punished. The Yarl's Wood detention centre remains essentially a prison, and is no place for a child. It must always be absolutely the last resort to keep a child detained for any length of time. Families with children are not a high risk for absconding.”

A long-standing advocate of child migrants’ rights, Diane has signed an Early Day Motion calling on the Government to put an end to detaining children in immigration detention. Speaking today she said:

“Migrants’ rights and children’s advocacy groups have been warning the Government for years that detaining children is damaging to their mental and physical well-being. Estimates suggest we are detaining between 1,000 and 2,000 children a year. That is a shocking figure and we need to address this issue as a matter of urgency.”

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