Sunday, December 03, 2017

"We are human beings not animals.”

 Marcin Gwozdzinski was one of three deaths linked to the UK’s immigration detention estate in the space of a month. This year is the deadliest on record – 10 immigration detainees have died, twice the previous high. News of the latest emerged two weeks ago – another suicide, a 27-year-old Iraqi man inside Lincolnshire’s Morton Hall detention facility. Few other details have surfaced, but critics say such secrecy is the norm. Suicide attempts are rising across the immigration detention estate. According to data from campaigners, 132 attempts were recorded during the first quarter of this year, a rate that could eclipse the record of 393 in 2015. Britain remains the only country in Europe with no time limit on immigration detention. With detainees’ lives in limbo, psychologists agree that the system affects mental health. Two years ago MPs joined campaigners in urging a 28-day limit on immigration detention, and only then as an “absolute last resort”.

Occasionally, the Home Office fails even to publicise a death. One recent Freedom of Information response found two deaths of which campaigners had no previous knowledge. In keeping with such a clandestine climate, the Home Office has not released Gwozdzinski’s name, or even his age. Gwozdzinski’s family claim they are being kept in the dark, that his death was preventable but that its circumstances are being covered up.

A written statement, signed by 59 fellow detainees of various nationalities, unequivocally blames the death of their “friend” on the authorities. “For a long time he [Gwozdzinski] asked officers, psychologists and doctors for help. He was ignored,” states the carefully handwritten letter. “Many times he asked for help. Therefore myself and other detainees are very anxious and depressed about the situation. It is a disgrace that nobody has been [made] accountable for such poor care. We are human beings not animals.”

Emma Ginn, coordinator of Medical Justice, said her organisation had frequently warned the Home Office that conditions inside would lead to further deaths if not addressed. “Clients call us, petrified that they too might die,” she said. “They say the authorities don’t care whether they live or die. We can’t console them.” 

Deborah Coles, director of Inquest, said: “Deaths and self-harm are the human consequences of the UK’s dehumanising and unjust detention system.”

Celia Clarke, director of the charity Bail for Immigration Detainees explained, “If you have a government that unashamedly vows to create a ‘hostile environment’ then it is no surprise that people are swept up, detained and removed, with little regard to their rights.”

The former Tory international development secretary Andrew Mitchell became the latest public figure to voice concern over the purpose of the UK’s 11 immigration centres, denouncing them as a “dystopian stain on our democracy.


 Vali Staicu, third secretary at the Romanian embassy, said her country had raised the issue with the home secretary Amber Rudd last month. “We are very concerned, we have cases where the Home Office say it’s a voluntary return but when we ask, the individual says, ‘I don’t want to go.’”
The Slovak embassy was worried about people being detained and deported without “legitimate reason”.

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