About LDSG
LDSG aims to improve the welfare of immigration detainees, primarily those held at Harmondsworth and Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centres near Heathrow Airport in London.
Immigration detainees can be held indefinitely, and their detention is not automatically reviewed by the courts. Most detainees are asylum seekers whose claims have been refused. Many experience extreme isolation and distress, knowing no-one in the UK and with very limited understanding of the language, law, their rights and entitlements. Many are traumatised by their experiences in their home country, by finding themselves detained with no release date, and by the prospect of being forcibly returned.
LDSG’s work is firmly based on our humanitarian principles and we continue to support all immigration detainees in Harmondsworth and Colnbrook, irrespective of their faith, background and ethnicity, in a non-judgmental manner. Founded in 1993 by a group of volunteers informally visiting detainees in the original Harmondsworth detention centre, LDSG has gradually increased in size over the years as more funding has been obtained, allowing us to recruit and supervise more volunteers. LDSG is independent of the Home Office and of the detention centres.
Around 70 LDSG volunteers are visiting individual detainees every week to 10 days, to provide emotional support and practical help. We also have a small team of three full-time staff and several office volunteers, who run a detainee freephone service and offer non-immigration advice and casework.
LDSG also monitors issues in the centres, and produce reports and submissions to make sure that detainees’ issues are raised in the wider policy debate. We regularly speak at external events to share our experience of working with detainees and encourage other organisations to get involved. Finally, we encourage detainees to write and draw about their lives and experiences, and publish a quarterly newsletter featuring our clients’ work.
Download the 2006/07 Annual Report here.
LDSG is funded by:
AB Charitable Trust
Big Lottery Fund
The Bromley Trust
City Parochial Foundation
The Economist Group
The Eleanor Rathbone Charitable Trust
Jill Franklin Trust
Garden Court Chambers
The Indigo Trust
The LankellyChase Foundation
Lloyds TSB Foundation
Odin Charitable Trust
Charity registration no. 1065066.
Immigration detainees can be held indefinitely, and their detention is not automatically reviewed by the courts. Most detainees are asylum seekers whose claims have been refused. Many experience extreme isolation and distress, knowing no-one in the UK and with very limited understanding of the language, law, their rights and entitlements. Many are traumatised by their experiences in their home country, by finding themselves detained with no release date, and by the prospect of being forcibly returned.
LDSG’s work is firmly based on our humanitarian principles and we continue to support all immigration detainees in Harmondsworth and Colnbrook, irrespective of their faith, background and ethnicity, in a non-judgmental manner. Founded in 1993 by a group of volunteers informally visiting detainees in the original Harmondsworth detention centre, LDSG has gradually increased in size over the years as more funding has been obtained, allowing us to recruit and supervise more volunteers. LDSG is independent of the Home Office and of the detention centres.
Around 70 LDSG volunteers are visiting individual detainees every week to 10 days, to provide emotional support and practical help. We also have a small team of three full-time staff and several office volunteers, who run a detainee freephone service and offer non-immigration advice and casework.
LDSG also monitors issues in the centres, and produce reports and submissions to make sure that detainees’ issues are raised in the wider policy debate. We regularly speak at external events to share our experience of working with detainees and encourage other organisations to get involved. Finally, we encourage detainees to write and draw about their lives and experiences, and publish a quarterly newsletter featuring our clients’ work.
Download the 2006/07 Annual Report here.
LDSG is funded by:
AB Charitable TrustBig Lottery Fund
The Bromley Trust
City Parochial Foundation
The Economist Group
The Eleanor Rathbone Charitable Trust
Jill Franklin Trust
Garden Court Chambers
The Indigo Trust
The LankellyChase Foundation
Lloyds TSB Foundation
Odin Charitable Trust
Charity registration no. 1065066.
