A positive development

Reading through the new coalition government’s agreement document, one particular line stood out: ‘We will end the detention of children for immigration purposes’.  This was exactly what Rev David Coffey, President of the Baptist World Alliance called for in his My Manifesto piece earlier in the year. (Continue Reading)

‘I am a Grandfather and when I read Dominic’s letter it touched my heart. Dominic Mwafulirwa is 8 years old and in his letter he said things I am used to hearing as a Grandad. He likes school and playing with his friends. His favourite subject is maths and he wants to be an Engineer when he grows up. The shocking thing about his letter was the second paragraph. Nothing had prepared me for this piece of information from an 8 year old.
“I was very scared when I was taken to Yarl’s Wood prison with Mum, in the early hours when I was about to wake up and go to school. I was ill in a caged van and on our way to prison. I asked why we are in detention. Detention is for bad and naughty children. I have never had detention in school before. I have not done anything wrong. I saw bad things happening in prison and there was too much crying. It gave me terrible headaches and I felt sad.”
I did my research and discovered Dominic is not alone. In June 2009 some 470 children were locked up in immigration detention centres. A third had been held for 28 days. Most of them were under 5 years old. More than a 1,000 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.
The human reality behind the statistics is these children suffer depression, weight loss and even self harm because of the detention.
The good news is that under the law (Section 55 of the Borders citizenship and Immigration Act 2009) the Government has a duty to make arrangements to safeguard the welfare of these children. The bad news is the Government has made no steps to cease detaining children like Dominic.
The UK is the only country in Europe which locks up innocent children. If you care then join me in asking prospective candidates to sign a pre-election pledge on asylum including demanding the end of the detention of children.’

Speaking to him this morning, David Coffey was very encouraged by this news. He said that this was ‘an example of what happens when ordinary Christians lift up their voices for the voiceless’.