“Without The Necessary Authority”:

The UK Government’s new compassionate approach to child detention

“You’re a big boy now so I have to search you,” said the immigration officer to the five-year-old, donning latex gloves and patting him down at a Heathrow Airport detention facility run by outsourcing giant G4S.

The child had been booked into Terminal 4’s “short term holding facility” as a “visitor” which meant that his detention would have gone unrecorded but for a surprise visit by two of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Prisons on 3rd March this year.

The boy, an EU national, had been returning home to Britain with his father, a non-EU national, after a family visit to the father’s country of origin. The Inspectors noted that the child was detained “without the necessary authority”.

Their “Report on an unannounced inspection of the short-term holding facility at Heathrow Airport Terminal 4”, published today, found that in three months to February 2011 the lock-up had held 78 children, including eight unaccompanied minors. Their average stay was 9.9 hours, twelve children were held for more than 18 hours — the longest detention being 23.9 hours. Not all staff were CRB checked.
This, more than a year after the Coalition Government pledged to end the detention of children for immigration purposes, and six months after deputy prime minister Nick Clegg claimed it had been accomplished.

The five-year-old subjected to the latex “rub-down search” then witnessed his father’s humiliation. The father’s phone was confiscated, but, say the Inspectors, he was not offered the free telephone call to which he was entitled.

Instead of being taken to the family room, which had children’s toys, books and posters (but no natural light nor access to fresh air), the father and child were held in the adult room.

“The father had not been formally interviewed by an immigration officer and was very distressed at the prospect of being refused entry and separated from his son,” said the Inspectors. “When we spoke with him he did not understand what was going to happen to him next. He broke down in tears in front of his child and the other detainees, which was humiliating for him and distressing for the child. After we advised the detainee that he was entitled to make a telephone call, he spoke to G4S who granted his request. The detainee’s distress could have been alleviated had he been able to make the telephone call earlier.”

That these things happened directly under the gaze of HM Prison Inspectors suggests this might be UKBA and G4S on their very best behaviour.

Staff admitted to the Inspectors, “that they had not received refresher training in suicide and self-harm prevention” and “did not carry anti-ligature knives but a knife was attached to the first aid box in their office.” The Inspectors noted: “This could cause unnecessary delay in an emergency.”

The Inspectorate also reported today on Heathrow Terminal 3’s lockup where, over three months to February 2011, 98 children had been held including eight unaccompanied minors. A child’s average stay was 8.3 hours, with twelve children held for more than 18 hours – and one held for 30 hours.

Despite the long periods of incarceration, neither facility had beds. Adults or children could lie across chairs if they wanted to. “And even this did not give room for all to sleep,” said the Inspectors.

Although one third of the detainees at Terminal 3 and a quarter at Terminal 4 were women, there was not always a woman on the staff. “Rub-down searches” took place in an open office, “which was especially inappropriate in the case of female detainees”.

When detainees requested to shower, and if staffing levels permitted, they were put in an escort van and driven to another facility.

One member of staff at Terminal 3 told the Inspectors “of an incident many months previously when a detainee had been banging his head on the table and said: ‘Luckily we were able to put him on the floor and stop him doing it.’”

The Inspectors noted: “The use of three staff to pin the detainee to the floor to prevent possible self-harm seemed an over-reaction.”

Despite the large numbers of children being held, the Inspectors noted that staff had “inadequate knowledge” of the referral system “for identifying victims of human trafficking”.

Although there were some valid legal advice telephone numbers in the holding rooms, the Inspectors found “access to legal advice for non-English speakers was poor. Immigration officers did not always use professional interpreters when necessary, and did not always complete legally required documents correctly. Detainees could not fax a legal adviser freely.” Nor were they routinely offered the free phone call to which they were entitled.

So much for the “big culture shift within our immigration system” and the “new compassionate approach to family returns” prematurely celebrated in December by Nick Clegg.

Today’s reports provoke discomfiting questions, such as:
How many trafficked children miss their one chance of rescue because staff lack proper training?

How many children are detained “without the necessary authority”, misleadingly listed as “visitors”, patted down and patronised by people who may or may not be CRB-checked?

And, if this is how immigration detention works when HM Inspectorate of Prisons is in the house, how do things go when nobody important is watching.

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Dale Farm Eviction Notice Served

Camp Constant to be set up from Saturday August 27th

Activity Days at Dale Farm, starting on Saturday July 9th, at 1 pm

Today, some 90 families at Dale Farm, the UK's largest Traveller community, were hand-delivered a final notice of eviction giving families until midnight on August 31 to abandon their homes, or face their entire community being bulldozed. The central government and Basildon Council have set aside over £18m for the eviction battle that could last three weeks. It will be the biggest clearance of its kind involving the ploughing up of 54 separate plots created on a former scrap-yard purchased by the Travellers ten years ago.

Dale Farm is only a 30 minute train ride from London, and hundreds of people have pledged to join residents in nonviolent resistance to the destruction of Dale Farm. The residents of Dale Farm have encouraged  their supporters to establish a base at Dale Farm, Camp Constant, to resist this eviction and house human rights monitors.

Join us on Saturday August 27th and beyond, starting with a weekend of Traveller history & celebration together with practical eviction resistance training. There will also be training for legal observers and human rights monitors, and a bit of a party on Saturday night. Sleeping space is available in caravans or you can bring a tent. The eviction could go ahead right after midnight on August 31st, so we will be staying at Dale Farm before then in preparation. Please check http://dalefarm.wordpress.com for further updates.

Dale Farm is within easy reach from London Liverpool St. Station. See:
http://dalefarm.wordpress.com/contact/ for directions.

You can sign up to our email bulletins here:
http://lists.ucrony.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dalefarm-solidarity

*Stay overnight at Dale Farm and Alerts - Urgent call for Support*

After the August 31st, an eviction could happen at any time, and we might not know when. We'll need people to be on standby to come up to Dale Farm in the event of an eviction. See: http://dalefarm.wordpress.com/hrm/ for details. We also need people to spend the night at Dale Farm to provide around the clock support to the community and resistance to the eviction. We are looking for groups and individuals to pledge to stay overnight.

If you can be on eviction alert, or spend a night at Dale Farm, please sign up here:
https://smsalerts.tachanka.org/dalefarm

Also, please ask your friends to ask their friends to pledge to stay a night: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=170414852985935

*Weekend Activity Days*

On July 9th and beyond, we will be building defences to resist the eviction, as well as supporting the community and setting up Camp Constant. We will also hold a meeting there, every Saturday at 1 pm.  For more information, and to check the dates of activity days see:
http://dalefarm.wordpress.com/activity

http://dalefarm.wordpress.com
https://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_124229427082

Travellers Given Notice: Dale Farm Eviction Soon

This morning [4 July] some 90 families at Dale Farm, the UK's largest Traveller community, were hand-delivered a final notice of eviction, giving families until midnight on August 31 to abandon their homes, or face their entire community being bulldozed.

Basildon Borough Council has contracted Gypsy removal specialists Constant & Co to carry out a direct action operation, using heavy machinery and accompanied by riot police.  It will be the biggest clearance of its kind involving the ploughing up of 54 separate plots created out of a former scrap-yard purchased by the Travellers ten years ago.

The central government and Basildon Council have set aside more than £18m to meet the costs of an eviction battle that could last three weeks.

"Dale Farm residents are willing to move, at no cost to Basildon, but need the council to identify suitable land," said Richard Sheridan, president of the Gypsy Council.  Dale Farm Housing Association has submitted plans for two alternative caravan parks on land belonging to the Homes and Communities Agency. An earlier plan for a site at Pitsea was rejected by the council.

The eviction is taking place despite pleas from two UN bodies and an investigation by the Council of Europe. Lawyers for the Travellers will attempt to challenge the decision to evict through a judicial review application.

Hundreds of people have pledged to join residents in nonviolent resistance to the destruction of Dale Farm. A support-base, Camp Constant, is being set up on August 27h, before the final notice expires, and there will be activity days during the weekend until the notice expires.

"An entire community will be made homeless and we'll see children pulled from their schools and dumped out the roads," said supporter Natalie Fox.

An international team of legal observers are to monitor the conduct of bailiffs and police.  For more information, as well as a press pack, visit http://dalefarm.worpress.com and copies of the eviction notice.

Contacts:

Grattan Puxon, Dale Farm Housing Association 01206 523528, 07757533380
Dale Farm Solidarity: 07891854430, 07583621312
Richard Sheridan, president of The Gypsy Council and resident of Dale Farm
07747417711
Mary Ann McCarthy 07961854023, resident of Dale Farm

Rabbis And British Jews Show Solidarity With Travellers At Dale Farm

On Wednesday 22 June a delegation of Rabbis and British Jews will visit Dale Farm in Essex, the largest Traveller and Gypsy-owned estate in the UK (and a former scrap yard), to express their solidarity with a hundred families that are facing the destruction of their homes by Basildon Council. The Council plans to forcibly evict these families from the land they own and bulldoze their homes in an operation that is estimated will cost £18 million.

The delegation will be met at Dale Farm by the President of the Gypsy Council Richard Sheridan and received in her home by residents' spokesperson Mrs Mary Ann McCarthy.

Rabbi Janet Burden said: "I believe that the history of the Jewish people calls on us to stand up for the vulnerable. I want to see for myself what is happening and to do what I can to help”.

Dan Glass, Jewish social justice activist said: "For many 2nd and 3rd generation Nazi Holocaust surviving Jews in the UK, we are inbuilt with a sense of injustice from a very young age. We are here to stand against the calculated policies perpetuating displacement of people and a breaking of human rights. Throughout our history our eyes have been opened - people have supported us for our freedoms and will will continue to share this solidarity with others."

Dr. Margaret Greenfields, who has long campaigned for Gypsy, Roma and Travellers' rights, is calling out to the Jewish community to help.

With the Rabbis will be members of the Jewish Socialists Group which has issued a statement saying that it believes the persecution, harassment and eviction of Gypsies, Roma and Travellers in Britain is part and parcel of what is being carried out by the authorities in France, Italy and some eastern European countries.

It says the Jewish Socialists Group will actively encourage its members to join the Dale Farm Solidarity group and Dale Farm residents in resisting the huge £18m eviction operation at Dale Farm, which is to be funded by Basildon Council, the Home Office and the Department of Communities and Local Government.

The visit by the British Jewish delegation will coincide with the official launch of the website http://jewify.org, which makes the connection between persecuted populations such as Travellers and Jews by substituting the word “Jew” for “Gypsy” and “Traveller” in news articles.


Contacts:

Dale Farm Residents Association tel: 01206 523528 email:dale.farm@btinternet.com

Dale Farm Solidarity tel: 0758 3761462 email: savedalefarm@gmail.com

Jewish Solidarity delegation via Dan Glass tel: 0771 7811747


Notes for Editors:

The delegation will be meeting at Liverpool Street Station at 10:20 am on 22 June, to catch the 10:35 am train to Wickford. Meeting point will be the entrance to platform 10.

Blockade Of Heathrow Detention Centre Helps Stops Iraq Deportation Flight

Yesterday anti-deportation campaigners blockaded Colnbrook and Harmondsworth detention centres in a last-minute attempt to stop the forcible deportation of Iraqi refugees to Baghdad on a specially chartered flight scheduled to leave London that evening.

30 angry protesters from No Borders, Stop Deportation and other groups blocked the joint entrance to the two detention centres near Heathrow airport. Six of them encased their arms in glass and plastic tubes attached to concrete barrels, while others held banners and shouted slogans against the 'brutal deportation machine.'

Three coaches carrying over 30 of the deportees to the airport were prevented from leaving the complex. Another 30 were supposed to be taken at the same time from Brook House detention centre at Gatwick airport and Campsfield House in Oxfordshire. In total, it was expected that the flight, scheduled to leave an undisclosed airport at 11pm, would carry between 60 and 70 deportees, accompanied by twice as many private security guards and immigration officers.

One of the protesters, who preferred to stay anonymous, said: "Mass deportation flights have become the government's favoured way to deport those who have fallen foul of its inhumane immigration controls. They're meant to save money and keep deportations outside the public gaze. But while every deportation is a violation of people's right to freedom of movement, these charter flights are a particularly sordid way to do that. On top of the trauma and hardship caused by deportation, these flights further undermine the legal rights of the refugees and asylum seekers."

Campaigners claim that many of the deportees had not exhausted all legal avenues available to them and had not had access to adequate legal representation. The emphasis of mass deportations, they argue, is on filling the flight and "getting rid of as many, as soon as possible." Solicitors acting on behalf of the deportees had sought a judicial review in the High Court as to whether the flight as a whole is legal.

Earlier this month, some of the detainees held in Campsfield went on hunger strike in protest at their planned deportation. In a statement they said: "Some of us don't have any homes or nowhere to go in Iraq. If we were returned we would be left to survive for ourselves on the streets with nothing. Some of us don't even know if our family members are alive or dead because we haven't had any contact with them for a long time... We have family and friends here. Being parted from them at this time is very hard and stressful for both sides... Everyone has the right to be able to live in a safe country."

According to media reports and evidence collected by the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR), many of those who have been deported to Iraq over the past few years are now living in hiding, in fear of the persecution they originally left Iraq to flee. Some have been assassinated or kidnapped and killed, while others have had mental breakdowns or committed suicide days after being deported. Many more have had to leave the country and become refugees again.

IFIR's secretary Dashty Jamal said: "The UK government is responsible for the tragedy in Iraq. They are playing politics with the lives of Iraqi refugees. They are making a deal with the despotic Iraqi regime, which the Iraqi people are currently rising up against, to send people back."

This is not the first time that Colnbrook and Harmodsworth have been blockaded by anti-deportation campaigners. In May 2009, a similar blockade to try and stop a mass deportation flight to Iraqi Kurdistan ended with six of the activists being violently arrested, only to be found not guilty by a magistrates judge.

The blockade, which started around 4pm, ended at 9pm without any arrests being made after it was learnt that the Immigration Advisory Service had obtained an injunction and the flight has been cancelled.

For pictures and links to an incident on Monday when another deportee on a plane at Heathrow cut his throat in order to prevent his removal and news that one of the G4S guards facing manslaughter charges over the death of Jimmy Mubenga last year has been showing his contempt for other refugees by posting photos on a social media site mocking two other people he had been involved in the deportation of are available here.

Another Indymedia report here.

Emergency Picket Of The Italian Embassy Tomorrow

The Italian government has approved an emergency decree which foresees the immediate expulsion of all irregular immigrants, and at the same time has extended the detention period from 6 to 18 months. The decree also allows for the forced expulsion of EU citizens. We are talking about a manhunt that is taking place throughout Italy, where the police are rounding up Roma citizens and migrants, while access to the detention centres - where the worst abuses occur - have been forbidden to the press and to everybody else. Continuous protests and riots where already happening inside the detention centres, one of which (Palazzo) had to close down because of a fire.

Join the picket in front of the Italian Embassy tomorrow, Wednesday 22 June, from 4.30 pm - but most people are expected to arrive after 5 pm, with a peak at 5.30.

Bring banners, pots, drums, whistles and everything that makes noise. All welcome!

Contact: 07940 143983

Address: Italian Embassy
14 Three Kings Yard
Grosvenor Square
Westminster
London W1K 4EH
(Nearest tube: Bond Street)

Stop Racism and Xenophobia in Italy

The Italian government has approved an emergency decree which foresees the immediate expulsion of all illegal immigrants, and at the same time has extended the detention period in the CIEs* to 18 months.

According to hundreds of witness accounts (many of which have been published in the national newspapers) these Centres of Identification and Expulsion are authentic concentration camps. The decree also allows for the forced expulsion of EU citizens. We are talking about a manhunt that is taking place throughout Italy, where the police are rounding up Roma citizens and migrants, identifying them, and charging them with every kind of offence (from begging to insulting a public official, from illegal occupation of public land to resisting police officers).

The magistrates, therefore, basing their sentences on convictions that are often served through “penal decrees” (trials without the right to a defence) or by summary judgement (an immediate trial that does not allow those accused to defend themselves properly, forcing them to negotiate a reduced prison sentence even when innocent) can order expulsions for reasons of "social dangerousness". 18 months in a CIE is harsh punishment, because after a few weeks in detention most of the migrants carry out acts of self-harm and many even contemplate suicide (often seeing their plan through). Poor immigrant families often experience the further tragedy of seeing their children taken away from them, with no opportunity to protest. The children are taken into care, and some are later adopted by Italian families.

The European Union must avoid falling prey to the same indifference that allowed the Holocaust and other persecutions in modern history to take place. We are asking the EU authorities to organize a committee of inquiry to inspect the conditions of persecution that migrants and refugees are living in in Italian cities. The committee should observe the waste of European funds allocated to immigration; the spread of intolerant ideologies promoted by politicians and the media; and the failure to implement programme to combat racism, neo-Nazism, antiziganism,** anti-Semitism and racial ideologies. The new agreements that the Italian Minister of the Interior (a top man in a party that combats foreigners and immigrants without posing ethical limits) is about to sign with Libya, will result in more pushing back of refugees, or the blocking of groups of refugees fleeing from persecution. This is today’s Italy, where the Italian people are becoming accustomed to the serious discrimination taking place against the Roma, poor Africans and migrants, and the many episodes of anti-Semitism, xenophobia and homophobia.


* Centres for Identification and Expulsion
** Hostility, prejudice or racism directed at the Romani people.

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