COMMUNITY CARE AND THE RIGHT TO REFUGE CAMPAIGN

Early day motion 1471, tabled 24 June 2003 by Hilton Dawson (Labour). Signed by 78 members.

That this House welcomes Community Care magazine's Right to Refuge campaign which seeks to challenge the current atmosphere of hysteria, dangerous prejudice and outright racism towards refugees, asylum seekers and their children; notes the recommendations of Her Majesty's Inspector of Prisons that 'the detention of children should be avoided whenever possible and should take place for the shortest possible time, in no case for more than seven days'; expresses its very grave concern at the continued detention of children under Immigration Acts powers in the UK, sometimes for substantial periods; and urges the Government as a bare minimum to take action to implement these recommendations without delay and to publish full statistics to demonstrate compliance.

Signatures by party: Labour 45, Liberal Democrat 25, Plaid Cymru 3, Labour/Co-operative 2, Conservative 1, Independent 1, Scottish National Party 1.