Sanctuary Pledge Success
The new Conservative-Liberal coalition has pledged to end child detention. The coalition agreement contains the line ‘we will end the detention of children for immigration purposes’.  This phenomenal achievement is due in part to the committed actions of the Vincentian Family as part of the Sanctuary Pledge and End Child Detention Now campaigns.  Over 20 members of the Vincentian Family joined local delegations and approached their prospective parliamentary candidates and others attended hustings and emailed their PPCs.

Around 1,000 children are locked up in immigration detention centres every year. Neither they nor their parents have committed a crime. Those who seek sanctuary in the UK can be detained by the UK authorities for an indefinite period.

Recent evidence has shown how detaining children is extremely detrimental to their physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing. The detention of children has been heavily criticised by the Children’s Commissioner for England, the Independent Asylum Commission, Church groups and many others.