'Detained Lives' Campaign Launch

'Detained Lives' Campaign Launch
Date: Thursday 29th January 2009

A launch event for London Detainee Support Group's research report, Detained Lives, on the human impact of indefinite detention.

• Thursday 29 January 2009, 6.30-9.30pm
• Human Rights Action Centre, Amnesty International UK, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA

Speakers include:

• Alasdair McKenzie - Doughty Street Chambers
• Alison Harvey - Director, Immigration Law Practitioners Association
• Clifton Cameron - Published poet and ex-long-term detainee
• Jerome Phelps - London Detainee Support Group
  
  

London Detainee Support Group will be launching their research report on the human impact of indefinite detention on 29 January 2009, at 6:30pm at the Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre in London.
Many people who cannot be deported are being detained for periods of years, yet there is very little wider awareness of the issue. The event will launch the 'Detained Lives' campaign, calling for the UK to adopt a maximum time limit on detention, in line with the rest of Europe.

Alasdair McKenzie of Doughty Street Chambers and Alison Harvey, Director of the Immigration Law Practitioners Association, will be discussing the civil liberties implications of this policy and how voluntary groups and lawyers can work together to challenge it.

Published poet and ex-long-term detainee Clifton Cameron will be performing some of his most recent poetry about detention.

An exhibition will also mark 15 years of LDSG's work in Harmondsworth and Colnbrook detention centres.

The report is based on 24 in-depth interviews with current detainees who have been held for more than a year. LDSG's research marks the first wide-ranging investigation of detainees' experiences of the UK's policy of indefinite detention of people who cannot be deported.

"When I think about the future, it's just a blank, a dark black page. I just think about it as if I'm doing a life sentence" - Liban from Somalia

"My friend, I feel that I'm locked in a room and the keys are lost. I'm disconnected from life." - Ahmed from Darfur

"When I was a (child) soldier, I see nasty injuries, people died, I see a lot of things but this is the first time I've felt... I think I've got something wrong with my mental". - Daniel from Ethiopia,

*Please RSVP by email to jerome@ldsg.org.uk if you would like to reserve a place.
This event is free and open to all members of the public.
See attached flyer for more information
London Detainee Support Group
http://www.ldsg.org.uk
Detained Lives
http://www.detainedlives.org

Further information can be found on the Institute of race relations web site - http://www.irr.org.uk/2009/january/bw000014.html - where a leaflet can also be downloaded, click here: http://www.irr.org.uk/pdf2/LDSG.pdf

Posted in: Conferences & Meetings.