New Detention Centre in Northern France – there is a better way

We were saddened to learn of the Government’s recent deal with the French Government to open a new detention centre in Dunkirk, Northern France. This 140 capacity centre is aimed to detain people from the top nationalities looking to find safety in the UK such as Afghanistan, Eritrea and Iran.

These are all countries where people are fleeing persecution and looking for safety elsewhere. Once again the Government focuses on enforcement and detention, whilst giving no focus or care for people who are looking to find safety in the UK. There is no route for people in Northern France to seek safety here. Surely we should be offering people a fair way to make an application for safety in the UK? The Government talks of developing new safe routes, but we only see promises to lock more people up.

At the Detention Forum we will continue to make the case to highlight the harm – both mentally and physically – that immigration detention does to a human being. And we will push for an alternative approach – evidenced by earlier Home Office funded projects – and that there is a practical and compassionate alternative to immigration detention.