[Media-watch] DUNGAVEL PLANS TO EXPAND

[Stephen McKee]

DUNGAVEL TO EXPAND

http://www.sundayherald.com/36916

There are plans to increase the capacity of Dungavel, despite reports 
condemning the detention of children there, despite the condemnation of 
human rights groups, and despite moral outcry from religious, trade union 
and other groups. The moral bankruptcy of this Government's policy on 
refugees is becoming more and more disturbing.

It should be noted that an Immigration Detention or Removal Centre is not a 
prison. Detainees have not been charged with a criminal offence, nor are 
they detained through normal judicial processes.  Dungavel asylum-seeker 
removal centre was condemned by officials as an unfit place to house and 
educate children, where detainees are denied constructive activity, adequate 
legal support and contact with the outside world, in a report by the English 
chief inspector of prisons, Anne Owers.

But this Government wants to be seen to be "tough" on asylum issues.  It is 
playing into the hands of the far right.

We must keep on making our voices heard.

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

SUNDAY HERALD STORY
"THE Dungavel Detention Centre is to be extended in order to accommodate 
more asylum seekers and their families amid a welter of political outrage 
and protest.
The controversial centre in south Lanarkshire, which currently holds 150 
men, women and children, will be extended with the erection of another block 
to allow a further 44 places, bringing the total capacity of the detention 
centre to almost 200."

http://www.sundayherald.com/36916


I have written to my MP.  You could write something similar.

http://www.faxyourmp.com/

-----email to Anne McGuire---------

mcguirea at parliament.uk

Dear Ms McGuire

I was disappointed, but sadly not surprised, to read that there are Home 
Office plans to expand Dungavel detention centre.  It is indicative of this 
Government’s approach on refugees that this discredited facility be expanded 
rather than replaced.

What were the factors behind this decision?  Are detentions going to 
increase?  Are more children going to be held in Dungavel?  Is this 
Government going to keep on playing the numbers game?   And when is this 
immoral and short-sighted asylum and immigration strategy going to change?

Yours

--------------------------------------------
ASYLUM FACTS

*The 2002 figure for UK asylum applications was 110,000. In a country of 58 
million people, that is a tiny 0.19%
*The vast majority of refugees go to countries like Iran (1.9 million in the 
year 2000), Pakistan (2 million, in 2000), and Tanzania (680,000, in 2000). 
(source: Report for the Director-General for Justice and Home Affairs at the 
European Commission).
*There are more than an estimated 8 million refugees in Africa alone 
(source: Oxfam), fleeing to neighbouring countries. Europe, by contrast, had 
384,530 asylum applications in 2001 (source: UNHCR), and the UK is 8th out 
of 13 European countries in terms of applications per population size 
(source: Oxfam).
*In order to maintain the 1995 ratios of working age to retired people, 
Germany, for example, will need 3.4 million immigrants per year over the 
period 1995-2050 (source: UN Population Division, 2000, Replacement 
Migration; is it a solution to ageing and declining populations?, New York).
*People seeking asylum are not a problem: the human rights abuses they are 
fleeing are.
*People seeking asylum are NOT ALLOWED by the UK to work for the first 6 
months after filing their claim, meaning they are forced to go onto 
benefits, when they'd rather work to support themselves. It is the 
regulations that force them onto benefits.


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