Janet King. representative on Detention Forum from Liberal Democrats for Seekers of Sanctuary writes :
Agitation and Satisfaction
When immigration detention activists get together both feelings are present and when the meeting is Detention Forum’s annual strategy meeting (30.3.16) you know that there will be positive outcomes.
Detention Forum began in 2009 because there was a lack of dialogue with the Home Office on detention policy. The aim was and is to put the voices of the detained at the centre of everything they did. The small group has grown and now represents over 30 NGOs and charities including LD4SOS.
Parliamentary successes.
Both the Shaw report and that of the APPG Inquiry into the Use of Immigration Detention encouraged the House of Lords to vote for a detention time limit of total 28 days and the right to work after six months in the Immigration Bill currently passing through Parliament.
At a recent meeting with James Brockenshire, Minister for Immigration, Maurice Wren of Refugee Council reminded him that he was in the unique position now to be able to change the UK immigration system for the better….if he will.
50 faith leaders will be holding a Parliamentary meeting about detention and the Immigration Bill on 20 April at Westminster. LD4SOS is invited to attend.
The Sanctuary in Parliament theme is detention this year. More work in Parliament is needed on behalf of LGBT detainees and ex-offenders, who spend the longest time in detention.
Alternatives to detention.
Can, and importantly will, HMG provide a humane alternative to detention? How will the UK immigration system look in the future?
The Government door is now ajar to alternatives to detention but needs reassurance that they can work. We must now come up with credible examples of good practice in other countries and the pilot being run through Detention Action will be key to success.
JEROME PHELPS, Detention Action, is meeting with the Home Office and making progress. Sadly however the HO still thinks that by making life difficult eg tagging they can persuade migrants to leave voluntarily. We need alternatives which do not include tagging. Trusted community support does work and is being piloted here through Detention Action with the Government’s blessing.
Recent international alternatives to detention are documented at www.idcoalition.org/alternatives-to-detention. The Government is required to work on this issue with the UNHCR Beyond Detention project, which wants to see changes. We must give time and energy to this important campaign and we need to be clear about what we mean by alternatives and which groups can implement them. We must find the most effective organisations to provide alternatives and support them. Sometime local providers are better than national ones. The Human Rights Watch work on alternatives was good but it came up with no plan.
We need to produce a clear Plan of Action, a road map for alternatives.
Much more on Detention Forum’s work may be found at www.detentionforum.org.uk.
Detention Forum’s year: an appraisal by Jon Featonby and Lisa Matthews