When: Monday 15th June 2015, 11:00 to 15.00
When: Monday 15th June 2015, 11:00 to 15.00Where: The Hub (Teesside University Students’ Union), Southfield Road, Middlesbrough TS1 3BA
What: Join us in Refugee Week for this special public event on immigration detention in the UK, the recent Parliamentary Inquiry on Detention, and how you can get involved in the fight for detention reform.
The UK’s approach to Immigration detention is a unique. The UK detains more migrants than any other European country except Greece and is alone in detaining them indefinitely, without time limit, sometimes for years on end. Indefinite detention not only devastates the lives of the individuals locked up without trial – it also hurts families and communities who lose people to detention, and must welcome them back once they are released.
Earlier this year, people in the North-East spoke out about this unfair, disproportionate and unnecessary loss of liberty. Locals both directly and indirectly affected by immigration detention came together and gave testimony to the first-ever Parliamentary Inquiry on Detention, who published their report in March.
Based on these, and hundreds of other testimonies, the Detention Inquiry report concluded that ‘we cannot go as we are’. The cross-party panel of parliamentarians found the current detention system ‘expensive, ineffective and unjust’ and called for immediate detention reform: a time limit on detention, the introduction of community-based alternatives and an end to the ‘enforcement-focused culture’ of the Home Office.
Momentum for reforming the UK’s detention estate has only mounted since the report’s publication, but in the immediate aftermath of the general election, will the political pressure lead to change? And what are the most urgent steps that can be taken to make sure it does? How do we cure our country’s addiction to detention?
Join us for this special all-day public event made up of two key sessions:
Morning presentations: 11.00 to 13.00
· Reflections on the Parliamentary Inquiry on Detention’s findings and recommendations
· What’s next? The call to action
Speakers include
· Jerome Phelps, Director, Detention Action
· Eiri Ohtani, Co-ordinator, The Detention Forum
· Speakers from asylum and refugee communities in the North East who contributed to the region’s submission
Afternoon workshop: 13.30 to 15.00
Detention Action and Detention Forum will run a workshop sharing their experiences of supporting those both in detention and those at risk of being detained
Book your place on Eventbrite http://www.eventbrite.com/e/immigration-detention-a-british-addiction-tickets-16765502068
This event is organised jointly by Detention Action, The Detention Forum, Regional Refugee Forum North East and North of England Refugee Service.