Asylum campaigners demand a new consultation process

Refugee campaigners have demanded a new consultation process on the ongoing detention of asylum seekers at Maghaberry, after slamming a current Government consultation as "a sham and a charade".

The consultation – 'Location of Immigration Detainees' – which officially closed on January 22nd, is now to be re-opened and extended to March 19th after a Sunday newspaper revealed that none of the seventeen organisations in the Refugee Action Group – such as Amnesty International, the Law Centre (NI) or the Multi-Cultural Resource Centre – had received the consultation document. However, all three options proposed in the consultation would mean the continued imprisonment of asylum seekers.

Now campaigners are demanding a brand new consultation process which includes options that do not involve the continued imprisonment of asylum seekers – the recommendation of Sir John Steele's review into prison safety at HMP Maghaberry.

On February 11th, the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee endorsed Steele's recommendation, rejected all three options included in the current consultation and urged the Government to put forward further options.

"The first consultation has proven to be a sham and a charade. Now, to see Prisons Minister Jane Kennedy attempting to revive this already dead consultation is like watching her give the kiss of life to the dodo," charges Patrick Corrigan, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Group.

"The Government cannot persist with a narrow set of imprisonment options which has already been rejected by the cross-party Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee."

Mr Corrigan said he would now be demanding that a fresh consultation be launched and that options for dealing with asylum seekers outside the prison regime be included in new proposals.

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