Diane Abbott is right to call for Yarl’s Wood closure, say campaigners

Diane Abbott MP

As former Hackney residents and [current] coordinators of the End Child Detention Now campaign, we wholeheartedly agree with Diane Abbott that Yarl’s Wood detention centre should be closed before further damage is caused to children and to the UK’s reputation (Hackney MPs clash over child detention at Yarl’s Wood, Wednesday 24 March).

Locking up innocent children in conditions known to harm their mental health can never be justified, yet Meg Hillier [MP] continues to argue that children should be taken from their homes and imprisoned in order to fulfil Home Office removal targets.

Hillier’s latest unfounded and scaremongering claim is that if the Home Office stopped detaining children, child trafficking would increase, because asylum seekers would buy children in order to escape detention!

We urge your readers to join Diane Abbott in calling for an immediate end to child detention by supporting our [No Child Detention] petition.

If you are a doctor or medic you can help by signing the Medical Justice petition.

Esmé Madill and Dr Simon Parker
End Child Detention Now
York

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Related story: Hackney MPs clash over child detention at Yarl’s Wood