Yarls Wood - Treatment Of Children

Conference condemns the treatment of the children detained in Yarls Wood as revealed in the April report by Sir Al Aynsley-Green, the Childrenʼs Commissioner for England. Around 2,000 children a year are held in immigration centres - half of those in Yarls Wood. Sir Al Aynsley-Greenʼs investigation paints a shocking picture of neglect and even cruelty towards children trapped within the centreʼs razor wired walls and finds “substantial evidence that detention is harmful and damaging to children and young people.” He also identified that children held at the infamous Yarls Wood immigration detention centre are being denied urgent medical treatment, handled violently and left at risk of serious harm. This bizarrely as the UK Government prepares to sign the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The FBU Executive Council, all its Officials and members should unite in a call by whatever means possible to end the automatic detention of children, recognising the fact that children are best served by remaining with their families, and for urgent measures to ensure all detainees are treated humanely.