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Children in Detention
Did you know the UK is the only country in Europe which locks up innocent children? On 30 June 2009 some 470 children were locked up in immigration centres. A third had been held for more than 28 days. Most were under five years old. More than 1000 children of people seeking sanctuary in the UK are detained every year. They are the only children who, whilst innocent of any crime, can be locked up indefinitely. Around 7,500 children arrive in the UK each year seeking asylum, many with family, some travelling alone. Many have witnessed or directly experienced extreme acts of violence, including torture and rape. Some have been trafficked. Often children end up in detention because their family's application for asylum has been refused. A family is often detained whilst any eleventh hour legal moves are made, prior to deportation. Families can be seized without notice, and locked up for weeks or even months at a time. Such detention has a profound impact on children who are already scarred by their experiences, as well as those who have only ever known life in this country. [ "...depriving children of their liberty and detaining them for administrative convenience without judicial oversight is never in their best interests..." Download this information as a printable PDF
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