Don’t deport children to Rwanda, cross-party MPs tell Home Office

Children should not be included in controversial Home Office plans to detain and deport Channel asylum seekers to Rwanda, MPs have said.

The risk of harm to asylum-seeking children who enter the UK on small boats outweighs any risk of damaging the Government’s aim to deter migrants from crossing the Channel through the Illegal Migration Bill, the cross-party Commons Women and Equalities Committee said.

The Bill, which is back in the House of Lords on Wednesday, would mean people who cross the Channel in a small boat to seek asylum in the UK would be eligible for detention and deportation to either their home country or another safe country such as Rwanda, including children with their families and lone children in limited circumstances.

But the committee’s chairwoman, Conservative MP Caroline Nokes, said one of the biggest concerns is the treatment of children in the asylum system, as she urged the Government to abandon any intention of detaining and forcibly removing them.

The critical report is the latest in mounting pressure on the Government to change its approach to the treatment of asylum seekers, especially children.

It comes a week after a coalition of leading medical organisations warned that child migrants detained under controversial new laws could be at risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, clinical depression and suicidal behaviour as they condemned the child detention provisions set out in the Bill.

Ahead of the Bill’s return to the Lords, schoolchildren were due to gather outside Parliament on Tuesday, writing messages of support on giant teddy bears in a demonstration organised by campaign groups Citizens UK and Together With Refugees.

The committee meanwhile also concluded that Home Office policy could increase the risk of harm for people with characteristics protected under the Equality Act, including women with histories of gender-based violence and abuse, children, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, and disabled people.

The committee also said prolonged detention of people who pose no threat to the public and for whom there is little prospect of removal from the UK is “potentially harmful, impractical and costly”.

MPs also have deep concerns that planned reforms “risk turning back the clock on policies intended to ensure detention is used only as a last resort, and to reduce the risks of harm to vulnerable people”, the committee said.

The wide-ranging report also called on the Home Office to “stop the dangerous practice of moving pregnant women and new mothers between asylum accommodation settings”, saying the department is “too often failing to comply with guidance” on this issue.

Ms Nokes said: “We were disturbed by the Home Office’s inadequate management of risks of harm to asylum seekers with protected characteristics, including women, LGBT people, children and disabled people. Alarmingly, these risks will increase under the Government’s recent and planned reforms.

“One of our biggest concerns is the treatment of children within the asylum system.

“Any intention to detain child asylum seekers under the Illegal Migration Bill and forcibly remove them to Rwanda must be abandoned. The risk of harm to children outweighs any perceived damage to the effectiveness of the Government’s policy agenda.”