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Hundreds of children in migrant centres
The number of children being detained in immigration centres is in the hundreds, officials figures revealed.
A Home Office report disclosed that 470 children entered detention facilities in the first half of 2009. According to the Guardian, many came from trouble-spots including Zimbabwe, Sudan, Sri Lanka and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The figures are thought to be the first to be published regarding children in detention centres, following lobbying by campaigners.
They showed that almost a third of children had been kept for more than 28 days, meaning they must have been authorised by a Government minister.
And, out of 225 children released from detention in the second quarter of 2009, only 100 were removed from the UK – suggesting they had been locked up unnecessarily.
Sir Al Aynsley-Green, the Children's Commissioner for England, told the Guardian: "If they were allowed to stay at the end of their release, why did they have to go through the detention process in the first place?"
Lisa Nandy, policy adviser at The Children's Society, said: "The Home Office has taken a step in the right direction by releasing this statistical information, as, unbelievably, proper data on the number of children entering and leaving immigration detention has until now not been officially released."
A UK Border Agency spokesman said: "The UK Border Agency fully recognises its responsibilities towards children but these responsibilities have to be exercised alongside our duty to enforce the laws on immigration and asylum.
"Detention of children with their families is only used in defined circumstances, as a last resort and for the shortest period of time."
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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