This presentation is about a report by 11 MILLION. It’s called…

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“The 11 MILLION children and young people in England have a voice” Children’s Commissioner for England, Professor Sir Al Aynsley-Green

New country, new beginnings

The arrest and detention of children subject to immigration control: a report following the Children’s Commissioner for England’s visit to Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre

This presentation is about a report by 11 MILLION. It’s called…

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1. Introduction by Sir Al Aynsley-Green, Children’s Commissioner for England

Welcome to this presentation! It’s about the experiences of children and young people

whose families have come to the UK from other countries,

but who aren’t allowed to stay

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“Each year in the UK around 2,000 children whose families have come to the UK from another country but are not allowed to stay are detained in places called Immigration Removal Centres. As the Children’s Commissioner, I’ve been listening to some of these children and young people , and am concerned that detention is making their lives worse.”

“I am working with Government to try and end the detention of children and young people. I know this will take time, and so we are all working together to try and make sure that when children are detained, they are treated as well as possible.” …

When someone is ‘detained’, they are

taken away from their home and kept in a

centre where they are locked in and cannot

come and go when they want

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…“We have listened to children in one of the main places that they are taken to, Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre. We have written an important report about what the children and young people told us and we are telling the Government about it.”

“Since we visited Yarl’s Wood, some things have been made better, and we are pleased about that . However, we think that even more changes are needed to improve the treatment of children and young people at these centres.”

“The rest of this presentation will tell you about some of the things children and young people had to say…”

Sir Al Aynsley-Green, Children’s Commissioner for England

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2. What we found out

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Arrest

Most children and young people were unhappy about what happened when they were arrested, and during the journey to Yarl’s Wood. They were not given time to gather personal belongings or say goodbye to their friends. There should be a child-friendly way of complaining for when things go wrong.

Detention

Many children who are detained have lived in the UK for years and see it as their home. People should consider this when deciding if children and their families can stay in this country. When families have had their request to stay turned down, they should be given more help to leave the UK of their own free will where possible.

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Being detained

Children at Yarl’s Wood say being there is like being in prison . They are taken away from their homes , friends, pets, personal belongings and the way of life they are used to.

Many children , particularly older ones, are worried about their brothers, sisters and parents. If they have to be detained then children would like to have more information, contact with their friends, time to play and better food.

Reviewing detention

Children should be kept in detention for as short a time as possible . When people decide whether a child remains in detention, the decision and reasons should be clearer and pay more attention to the needs of the child. The current process should be looked at and action taken.

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Healthcare

Children’s health should not suffer when they are detained. But children at Yarl’s Wood do not get the same standard of healthcare as other children. In fact, our report shows that some children are put in danger by not getting the right healthcare.

Pregnant women and babies and their mothers

Detention is particularly bad for babies and small children, because they can be more vulnerable than older children, and rely on their parents for more. More help is urgently needed for mothers to feed their babies and small children properly and safely.

“…we call for a way of doing things that, at the very least, means that babies or children with

serious physical or mental health needs are

never detained…”

Sir Al Aynsley-Green

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3. What should happen next?

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Since our visit to Yarl’s Wood, we have been pleased to work with Government over the last few months to achieve better outcomes for children in the immigration system .

We have also thought about all the things that children and young people at Yarl’s Wood have told us. We have come up with 42 recommendations about what we think should happen next. These are all listed in our report.

Out of these 42, we have six main recommendations.

A recommendation describes a way to

do something differently

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Recommendation 1

The Government has a framework to help children called Every Child Matters.

But detaining children who have lost asylum and immigration claims is never likely to help them. So, this has to stop .

Recommendation 2

Children should only be detained as a last resort and for the shortest possible time . The reasons why they might be detained must be clearly laid out.

This is part of the United Nations Conventionon the Rights of the Child.

A framework is a collection of ideas, ways of working and projects

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is an international agreement on the rights that children and young people should have

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Recommendation 3

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) looks after immigration on behalf of the Government. So it deals directly with children and their families whose asylum and immigration requests have been turned down.

We say that UKBA should come up with ways of allowing children to stay where they live, near to their friends and their school, rather than being detained whilst arrangements are made for the children and their families to leave the UK.

Recommendation 4

As the detaining of children is unlikely to end immediately we think that all our recommendations should be carried out urgently .

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Recommendation 5

The Government should also make sure the rights of children are maintained as agreed by international human rights standards.

This is particularly important when children are detained.

Recommendation 6

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) should make sure people know who is in charge of each action that affects a child at each stage of the asylum and immigration process.

This means that those responsible can be checked to make sure they are carrying out the process properly. This is particularly important when children are being told to leave the UK.

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The future 11 MILLION will continue to visit Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre to keep listening to children and young people who are detained there.

We are pleased to say that the Government has already been listening to what we found out. We will continue to work with them and with other organisations to make sure that the immigration system works fairly with children .

We hope that in the future children and young people will not be detained, but if they are it will only be as a last resort and for the shortest possible time . Detention would only take place after a fair and open decision had been made about a child’s future.

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What do YOU think about detaining children and young people? Have YOUR say on www.11MILLION.org.uk

If you want to look at the full report, you can find it here.

This presentation is about a report by 11 MILLION. It’s called…

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