wfn.org | ASYLUM SEEKERS

[keith.whitefield@quest.org.uk]

March 1, 1997
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Commnications
Anglican Communion Office
London, England

[97.2.4.2]

ENGLAND: CHURCHES SPEAK ON ON DETENTION OF ASYLUM SEEKERS

(ACNS) A Church and human rights  group chaired by the Bishop of Oxford,
the Rt Revd Richard Harries, has spoken out about the treatment of
asylum seekers in the UK.

The report, entitled Why Detention?  is sponsored by the Asylum Rights
Campaign and the Churches Commission for Racial Justice,  and urges the
British Government to adopt better safeguards when detaining asylum
seekers and immigration offenders. In his introduction to the report,
the Bishop of Oxford says:"The British Government's policy on the
detention of asylum seekers and those thought to be guilty of
immigration offences is deeply unsatisfactory on both moral and
practical grounds. There can be no justification for imprisoning people
who have committed no crime. It is hard to escape the conclusion that
this is a deliberate policy by governments to deter people seeking
safety within their borders.  It is morally repugnant." The report
calls  for refugees to be detained only in exceptional circumstances. It
says that the Government should specify an absolute maximum period
beyond which asylum-seekers cannot be detained; provide written
statements for the reasons for detentions which are reviewed by judicial
authorities within 7 days; not hold asylum seekers in prison nor deprive
them of their freedom. The report also asks that those who are detained
have access to free legal advice.