Home Office still holds refugee children in immigration detention, despite governmentâ„¢s claims that the practice has been ended.
Britainâ„¢s Home Office still holds refugee children in immigration detention, despite governmentâ„¢s claims that the brutal policy has been ended.
According to new figures by the Home Office, more than 444 children have been kept in detention centers since 2010, when the collation government pledged to end the controversial practice.
The new statistics also revealed that the number of detained children has been doubled between 2011, when there were 127 children in the centers, and 2012, when there were 242.
The new figures were released as British Prime Minister David Cameron claimed this year that his government had ended the policy.
“These figures suggest the needless detention of children within the immigration system continues, despite the Government’s commitment to end it,” said Maggie Atkinson, Children’s Commissioner for England.
Chief executive of the Children’s Society Matthew Reed also said that keeping children in immigration detention centers could gravely harm their mental and physical health.
The Refugee Council has previously accused the UK immigration service of continuing to detain child asylum seekers by wrongly classifying them as adults.
MOS/HE
Republished from: Press TV