London Detainee Support Group launched the “Detained Lives” research report and campaign at Amnesty International’s Human Rights Action Centre on 29 January 2009. The report documents the ineffectiveness and the human cost of the UK’s practice of indefinite immigration detention. The launch marked the start of the Detained Lives campaign for a time-limit on indefinite detention.
An extraordinary turnout of over 270 people packed the large hall. Attendees travelled from as far as Liverpool, Birmingham and Cornwall to attend. Representatives of 50 organisations were present, but a large proportion of the audience were members of the public. The unexpectedly large attendance meant that queues formed at the entrance to the building, but a large and well-organised team of LDSG volunteers ensured that entry and registration involved a minimum of delays.
Before the formal event started, attendees enjoyed an exhibition celebrating 15 years of LDSG’s work and the creativity of current detainees. A selection of art-works were on display, including paintings by current LDSG service-user Reza depicting the emotional impact of indefinite detention and sculptures produced by detainees with the support of the Colnbrook Education Department.
The Detained Lives campaign stall encouraged attendees to support the campaign by signing letters to their MPs, requesting that they read the Detained Lives report and make representations with the Home Secretary for one of the detainees featured. Over 30 people signed letters for LDSG to forward to their MPs, while many more took away the letters.
As the event began, the exhibition needed to be swiftly dismantled and taken outside to allow more chairs to be brought in for the ever-expanding audience.
Caroline White, LDSG Chair, opened the event by welcoming the large audience and encouraging all to get involved with the campaign. She also drew attention to the work of LDSG’s volunteers and staff.
A recording was played of part of the interview with current detainee Reza, whose art was featured in the exhibition. It was a powerful moment, which drew attention to the absence of all the current detainees who contributed so much to the research but could not be present for the launch. Reza observed that “the one thing, I think all detainees will agree that it’s the worst thing about detention, you don’t know how long you’re going to take this. I mean, if [it will be] one year, two years, three years.”
Published poet and ex-indefinite detainee Clifton Cameron spoke briefly about his experiences and read from his collection “Voice from the Wilderness: Inspirational Poetry”, written in prison and detention.
LDSG Director Jerome Phelps spoke about the genesis of the project in conversations with detainees who could not understand why no-one outside knew that this was happening to them. He drew attention to the gravity of this threat to civil liberties, comparing the silence on the rights of foreign ex-offenders to the widespread debate over the 42 day detention of terrorist suspects. Many detainees who cannot be deported are trapped in a bureaucratic nightmare without exit, with no idea if they will ever be released. The research documented 188 detainees who had been held for more than a year, of whom only 18% had been deported. Around half remained in detention, despite the remote likelihood of deportation taking place, and had been held for a total of 318 years. Detainees are often tough people who have survived great adversity, yet indefinite detention has a terrible effect on their mental health.
Alison Harvey, Secretary General of the Immigration Law Practitioners Association, likened indefinite detention to the panic reactions that can come with being stuck in a lift. She referred to the extensive research that has showed that indefinite detention of more than three months is invariably damaging to mental health. International standards are inadequate to prevent this practice, but the UK has been criticised by the European Commission’s Commissioner for Human Rights and has had to derogate from the European Union Returns Directive, which introduces a maximum time limit for detention of 18 months. The damaging obsession with distinguishing “good” and “bad” migrants is the root of the problem, and it is wrong to suggest that some people deserve respect for their rights and others none.
Alasdair Mackenzie, a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers and founder of Asylum Aid, suggested that indefinite detention is a result of both incompetence and deliberate policy. The Home Office is still, in the words of John Reid, “unfit for purpose”, and can take weeks to make a single telephone call. He also criticised the Home Office for their practice of “moving the goalposts” by making constantly changing requirements of detainees to show that they are cooperating with the deportation process. Immigration judges are allowing them to get away with it.
Richard Lumley of Refugee Council and the Asylum Rights Campaign chaired a panel discussion, including questions from the floor. Alasdair Mackenzie drew attention to a recent legal ruling known as “Abdi”, in which the Home Office were severely criticised for operating a “secret” policy of presumed detention. This followed the 2006 scandal over the failure to consider some foreign ex-offenders for deportation, which has led the Home Office and the courts to fear media coverage if they release a detainee. Alison Harvey criticised the unprofessional and inflammatory language of toughness used in recent Home Office press releases. Jerome Phelps pointed out that countries like Sweden have higher rates of returns of refused asylum seekers, compared with Britain, whilst making very limited use of detention.
