Comments on: Immigration Detention Centres

By: Lord Hylton

Lord Hylton — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:13:01 +0000

Within the EU people can only move long-term if hey can find work, or have the means to retire, but I agree that migration and asylum issues are generally low priority here.

By: Lord Hylton

Lord Hylton — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:57:59 +0000

Thank you. Do make the points about the 1951 Cnvention to your MP.

By: Senex

Senex — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:32:00 +0000

LH: Your speech is featured on the new BBC Democracy Live website. Well done BBC!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/house_of_lords/newsid_8341000/8341227.stm

Lord Sheikh points out that only Britain and Denmark (I would expect this of Denmark) have opted out of the EU Returns Directive with its time limit of 18 months for detaining individuals. He said this in light of one individual being detained in the UK for eight years.

What’s going on?

By: Adrian Peirson

Adrian Peirson — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:11:02 +0000

Perhaps if the Military Industrial Complex didn’t go around blowing these countries up and causing these problems there wouldn’t be quite so many assylum seekers.

By: jken146

jken146 — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:43:14 +0000

This is a human rights issue, not an immigration one. It’s nothing to do with economic migration, from within the EU or from without. The question here is why we treat people fleeing for their lives worse than convicted criminals.

By: Mr Mulholland

Mr Mulholland — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:47:19 +0000

My Lord

I am afraid it would be most dishonest of any political party to pretend that it cared a fig about immigration whilst at the same time supporting the abolition of frontiers occasioned by membership of the European Union.

By: jken146

jken146 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:26:49 +0000

(That last line was my comment.)

By: jken146

jken146 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:26:19 +0000

It also appears that the 1951 Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees (article 31) is being contravened:

Refugees unlawfully in the country of refugee
1. The Contracting States shall not impose penalties, on account of their
illegal entry or presence, on refugees who, coming directly from a territory
where their life or freedom was threatened in the sense of article 1, enter or
are present in their territory without authorization, provided they present
themselves without delay to the authorities and show good cause for their
illegal entry or presence.
2. The Contracting States shall not apply to the movements of such refu-
gees restrictions other than those which are necessary and such restrictions
shall only be applied until their status in the country is regularized or they
obtain admission into another country. The Contracting States shall allow
such refugees a reasonable period and all the necessary facilities to obtain
admission into another country.

Detention for administrative convenience is not permitted here.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:17:10 +0000

The manner in which we treat immigrants in this country deeply depresses me. Whatever happened to our common humanity?

By: franksummers3ba

franksummers3ba — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:40:58 +0000

Lord Hyylton,
In many coutntries of the more “adavanced type” one’s real rights to due process and fair dispostion are vastly greater for a serial killer than for one who has fallen into thoe large lacunae in imigration law. Cubans in the US, Eastern Europeans in several areas and other examples of this ought to make us see something bad about our sense of values.