Children’s legal centre: Rebranding rather than ending
Professor Carolyn Hamilton, director of the Children’s Legal Centre comments on Nick Clegg’s announcement on child detention:
“We welcome the government’s recognition of the need to prioritise the protection of children in the immigration system, and for the long overdue closure of the family wing of Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre.
“However, we are disappointed that the current detention system will not end until May. Furthermore, the proposals for secure and supervised pre-departure accommodation appear to be detention by another name. Holding children in accommodation from which their parents are not allowed to leave for up to a week may prove just as psychologically damaging as other forms of detention.
“If we are to have the ‘most child-friendly immigration system in the developed world’ as Nick Clegg has promised, there is still a long way to go. Rebranding detention is not the same as ending it.
“We urge the government to allow independent evaluation of the new processes for returning families which are currently being piloted, and to make good its promise to put child welfare at the centre of the removal process. The best interests of children must be a primary consideration throughout our entire asylum and immigration system.”
