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Indefinite detention must be discontinued
It’s time for wholesale change in how Britain deals with the issue of immigration detention, says DIANE ABBOTT
KEEPING UP THE PRESSURE: Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott and shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti during a visit to Yarl’s Wood Immigration detention centre in Bedford

WHEN Trump recently visited Britain, the spotlight was rightly shone by both the media and protesters on his administration’s inhumane policies towards migrants, including in terms of how migrants are detained.

Such concern for the human rights of migrants and asylum-seekers is much needed — yet British government policy when it comes to immigration detention often receives less media attention than it should.

Despite this, in recent years there has been an increase in the voices urging the government to change direction and this was reflected in a recent statement from Home Secretary Sajid Javid to the House of Commons in response to the publication of a second, highly critical, review of Britain’s immigration detention system by former prisons and probation ombudsman Stephen Shaw.

Incarcerating victims of abuse and torture breaches obligations under international law, and yet the government is not moving fast enough to make sure this doesn’t happen

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