House of Commons Detention Inquiry Debate, Thursday 10 September

Friends Without Borders fully supports the magnificent efforts of the community in Portsmouth and elsewhere to support those in need in Calais and beyond. We also think it is important to pay attention to asylum seekers and refugees who are destitute and being mistreated in Portsmouth and Britain, a situation that has been chronic for decades. On Thursday the House of Commons will be debating the Detention Inquiry Report. This is an issue very close to the heart of Friends Without Borders. We visited detainees in Haslar Immigration Removal Centre for 20 years and many of our service users in Portsmouth today have been detained or are under threat of detention – it is difficult to exaggerate how negative the effects that unlimited detention can be on individuals and their families. We have spoken to our local MP Flick Drummond about this and are hoping that she will make a positive contribution to the debate and support the report’s recommendations, one of which is that there should be a 28 day time limit to detention. You can read more about the report and its recommendations, as well as what you can do about it, here: http://detentionaction.org.uk/10th-sept-parliamentary-debate-on-the-detention-inquiry-2