The national LGBTQIA+ Asylum Organisation, Rainbow Migration, has urged its supporters to email their MPs to pressure the government to end the practice of housing asylum seekers, including vulnerable LGBTQIA+ ones, in detention centres. In a press release, Rainbow Migration explained:
"No-one should be locked up indefinitely in a place they aren’t safe.
Right now, unknown numbers of LGBTQI+ people are being held in immigration detention in the UK. They are detained without courts or judges, in prison-like conditions, and for an unlimited amount of time.
Although detention should normally only be used when someone is about to be removed from the UK, most people are eventually released – their detention having served no purpose other than to isolate and traumatise them.
For LGBTQI+ people the impact can be devastating. Detention deprives them of their freedom and cuts them off from support networks. They are bullied and discriminated against by staff and others inside, which re-traumatises those who have fled persecution. As a result many have no choice but to be in the closet to stay safe, making it harder for them to “prove” they are LGBTQI+ as part of their asylum claim.
Since 2016 governments have recognised that trans and intersex people are particularly at risk of harm and should not be detained in most circumstances. But despite the evidence of harm suffered, they won’t say the same for LGBQ people. This has to change.
Supporting people to navigate the immigration system in the community is more humane, better for their mental and physical health, and produces better outcomes for less money. But still the government locks up tens of thousands of people every year – some for months or even years on end.
Nobody should be detained indefinitely with no idea when they might be set free. And no LGBTQI+ person should be locked up and subjected to LGBTQI-phobic bullying and abuse.
Join our campaign to call for an end to LGBTQI+ detention and a 28-day time limit for all immigration detention."
To learn more about the campaign and the reasons behind it, visit https://www.rainbowmigration.org.uk/no-pride-in-detention/
