diverse voices, similar concerns

I am convinced that what is taking place is against the God-given human rights of children. Furthermore, the incarceration of children in these circumstances clearly contravenes the European Convention of the Rights of Children. I am appalled that children are held and treated like this in our name, by a Government elected to care for all the people. As I have said before, this brings shame on our country. It is important that we are not distracted from this central issue by other issues. For example, you will be aware that one family in particular has been at Dungavel for more than one year. But this is about ALL children. It is no excuse to blame the parents for using their legal right to continue appealing for new hearings. Nor is the central issue about giving children more teachers, better education, more technology. This is purely and simply a human rights issue. It is about giving children back the childhood which we are taking from them. The state cannot continue to lock up innocent children who have committed no crime. The level of support I have received on this matter shows that the people of Scotland share my indignation about what is happening at Dungavel. I carried to Mr. Blunkett, not only the 21,000 signatures, but the outrage of many of our people. I have received a great deal of support from the other Churches, from the press and from various professional bodies. They are as puzzled as I am by what appears to be a lack of transparency in this whole situation. Bishop John Mone

"When we went and demonstrated  I was horrified. There were ten of us; a Church of Scotland minister, an actor, two students and two ladies from Azerbaijan and two people that passed who joined us. Ten people, not the heavy brigade. Not one of those people in the Executive decided to so mush as to give us a “hello” or a “good morning”. We just simply didn’t exist and what stunned me was that the whole point of a so-called democracy is that if you gather round and you’ve questions to ask of your elected representatives, the least they can do is stand there and debate the issue. Somehow we weren’t even worth debating with. I think what the Executive have woken up to is the fact that they were voted in to speak their mind and to act on principal, not to just be the purpose of Westminster". Peter Mullan, actor, writer, director

It's time to stop hiding behind this 'reserved to Westminster' excuse and condemn what is happening on Scottish soil. If devolution means anything, then Jack McConnell should challenge the home secretary over this disgrace. If ordinary people want to stop this injustice going on we will all have to fight it by speaking up and forcing the hand of Westminster to close down that prison. Refugees came here to seek sanctuary but now it looks like they should be seeking asylum from Britain. We lock them up without crime, time limit or trial and that’s as bad as the countries they fled.  Contrary to the Home Secretary’s assertion, these policies will not combat an increasingly vocal far right agenda, they simply adopt that agenda, and can only encourage those that speak to it. Moreover, this response to the far right can only encourage targeting of other vulnerable minorities in our communities. Robina Qureshi

"I want to add my support to those who are demanding that the disgusting and inhumane treatment of families at Dungavel should end immediately. The actions of Blunkett and his sidekick Beverley Hughes are a disgrace. Incarceration of innocent people is wrong. Locking up children is wrong. We insist that people are treated with dignity and humanity. Dungavel must close".  Ken Loach, Director

“There is a need for a refugee policy. However, it must also be fair and humane. Any policy which leads to the detention of children for over a year, culminating in their forcible repatriation, needs to be re-examined. A better model already exists in Glasgow where families are housed in the community and where a school like All Saints Secondary welcomes refugee children from more than 30 nations through its doors . This seems more enlightened than the lock-and-key approach represented by detention at Dungavel.” Archbishop Mario Conti

"I am ashamed of the way we are treating people. I am ashamed of the way we have treated Mercy Ikolo. I am ashamed of the way we have treated the Ay family. I am ashamed of the way we are treating people in Dungavel now. I am ashamed that our politicians have created this and condone it and allow it continue because I think that there are some absolutes in a civilised society and one of those absolutes is that we should not lock up children and infants and families. We should not lock up people who come here looking for sanctuary, looking for our support and in a country, in a nation, which is at root hospitable and which has welcomed people for generations, for hundreds of years, where our entire society is based on incomers, change, development creating a vibrant dynamic society we should not be locking people up for the only crime of wanting to come and seek sanctuary in our country, in our midst. Let’s be clear about this, Dungavel is a prison. I don’t think there’s any argument about that. I don’t think there is any possible way of denying it. Actually, if you put a twenty-foot fence around Balmoral and then locked all the doors and said ‘you may not come out’ that would be a prison. This is not about the conditions. It is about removing people’s liberty. Unacceptable. Unjustified. Something we have to stop immediately. So as Chief Executive of the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, what I want to say is that asylum seekers need homes, they need support. They do not need prisons. On behalf of Scotland’s Housing Associations I offer here and now that SFHA will meet anytime, anywhere, with any representative of NASS or the Home Office to explore reasonable housing alternatives to the disgrace of removing the liberty of whole families. Indeed I challenge NASS and the Home Office and the government to come and meet us and talk about an alternative to imprisoning asylum seekers. 

DAVID ORR – Chief Executive, Scottish Federation of Housing Associations

There are actually many things that I don’t understand about this debate but the biggest one that I don’t understand is what’s the Scottish Executive frightened of? Why do they feel the need to lock these asylum seekers up? All we need to do really is look around us and we’ll see that modern Britain, Britain can’t survive without the immigrants that we have. Our society couldn’t survive without them. They’ve made a huge contribution to our economy, our culture, you name it. So I think really Scotland is missing a trick. We’re not an overpopulated country. Indeed, our population is declining so we can accommodate these new arrivals. We’ve no need to lock them up. We actually need them. I want to live in a multicultural Scotland. I want to live in a place where we can hold up our heads not somewhere where our elected Executive insists on the right to incarcerate without trial. I think we should embrace asylum seekers and their children because, given a chance, I think they could help to forge a better future, not just for themselves but for all of us. Louise Welsh, Writer

I feel humbled a lot of the time when I work with people and hear their stories and see their scars and I feel ashamed at what my country is doing in my name". Lesley Benzie, poet

We’ve come a long way in Scotland. We’ve got devolved power now and is this what we’ve come to? Incarcerating families who are in the process of appealing against a decision that’s gone against them in terms of asylum application and I think it’s disgusting that families and their children should be incarcerated ...if anything, you are a child first and you seek asylum second. I think that we have a right and a responsibility, if we are going to be a devolved power to take responsibility for a problem that comes right to our door in the form of people seeking asylum. We are a nation of immigrants ourselves so we should know what people go through". Kenny Glenaan, actor, writer, director

"If this is the only way that the new Scottish Parliament can deal with people who have been driven or displaced from the homes of their origin, then those with responsibility for it must hang their heads in shame. Dungavel has a particular history in Scotland in being the casket for many of Scotland's young offenders who committed suicide in the '80's, because those in authority didn't listen to the pain they were suffering. That is exactly what is happening here in this new Millennium. It beggar's believe that at a time when Scotland has an opportunity to show the world a different, more humane way forward, that they lack the vision and courage to do so. We elect politicians to engage positively and humanely with the new challenges in a trouble and vastly changing world. Sadly, Dungavel is an indictment writ large that the new Scottish Parliament has failed to do this".Jimmy Boyle. Artist

"THREE YELLOW STREAKS: I visited three children in Dungavel in July, the height of summer. Having been detained for a year they were desperately waiting for the clock to tick to 3pm when they were allowed out into the fresh air for just two hours, between two yellow lines painted on tarmac. Our taxes presently finance a regime that locks children inside for 22 hours per day. It’s time for the home office to pay attention to public opinion and if not it must be time to change things by civil disobedience in the name of simple human decency and remove the third line of shame and cowardice running through the heart of our asylum policy". Paul Laverty, writer

"My appeal isn’t really to the politicians who are showing great cowardice in not addressing his. It’s really to the people that I live with, that I meet on the buses, for them to challenge the racism which underpins this. It’s this idea that all is ok in the world but not really if you come from somewhere else. Not really if you’re not white and not really if the leadership in this country has no backbone. There are innocent people incarcerated. I don’t buy it! None of us buy it! Those who do actually get a message from this ... it’s the same message as was important to the Iraq war. It’s the same you used to get in the America/Vietnam days. “People who aren’t white, their lives don’t really matter.” I don’t want my kid, or my neighbour’s kid or any of us being brought up in a country which dishes this crap out. Let’s face it; we are going to have to live in a society where people absorb these values, values that are dished out from the likes of politicians who are in it for a career. If they can’t open their mouths about this then they are in it for a career. What the hell are they there for? It is appalling that they don’t even enter into the discussion.  In the words of the old Saco and Vincetti film “Only silence is shame” and the silence that they are continuing with this is absolutely shameful. Who’s next? What other issue are they allowed to shut their mouths for?" Gary Lewis, actor

"After the Ay family were deported we were told that the number of children were going down but the numbers rapidly shot up. Two weeks ago when the Home Office got wind of the fact that we were going to be going to the courts to get bail, what they did was they tried to deny access to the families to see their lawyers. Then after that they shipped families out in the middle of the day. They moved them away, trying desperately to get families with five children out of there, families with six children out of there. What keeps happening though is families keep arriving and I have to say this, members of staff at Premier have said this, “What is going on? We were told that the numbers of children would go down. In fact, they are actually going up". Aamer Anwar, human rights lawyer

“Australia, my home country, is dealing with the same thing and has many detention centres. The very world ‘detention’ for children sounds like such a negative thing. It is a matter of basic human rights.”   Tony Judd, coach to cricket’s Scottish Saltires

“The idea that we would keep children locked up is barbaric. It must be pretty clear in most cases where the unjust and just cases lie. We should be tackling the grey areas and not keeping children in detention. I don’t condone an open-door policy for immigrants, but I believe we should be looking on them as a resource.”  Marjory Flynn, president Glasgow Chamber of Commerce

All the people i have spoken to, decent good people who once you get to this subject say, “Well, they must have done something. They must of because it just goes to show, if you’re in prison you have done something wrong.”  “I am appalled that this group of children were detained and isolated, depriving them of the company of other children or adequate education. To detain children for over a year seems utterly unjustifiable. The Church of Scotland has repeatedly raised the question of the Ay children. We’re disappointed this seems to have been ignored.” Professor Iain Torrance, Moderator of the Church of Scotland

“ A lot of these people would add tremendously to Scotland. People genuinely in need of asylum should be welcomed as we have been welcoming them for years. If there are differences between Scotland and Westminster it needs to get sorted. We can’t have a situation where children are not going to school or being held for a year – this is a first world country. We should be getting these things sorted much faster, and we can’t bounce responsibility around.”  Peter Lederer, managing director, Gleneagles Hotel

“Children have educational and social needs and I can’t see how any of these things are adequately addressed by putting them in detention in this fashion. Irrespective of the results of asylum applications, this is not treatment we would consider meting out to UK nationals, so it is not acceptable for non-UK nationals either.”  Euan Davidson, Director, The Prince’s Trust Scotland

“The leaders of the Scottish parliament are confessing their impotence over important issues, but you’d have thought they’d be able to admit that as a politician they are bound and gagged, but they have an opinion as a private individual. They haven’t even the guts to say that.” Alasdair Gray, author

“Our treatment of asylum seekers all over Britain is shocking. It just seems a terrible humanitarian disaster that we’re living through in our own rich country. No human being, far less a child, should be in the conditions that these children were. ”

Liz Lochhead, playwright

“I don’t think it’s necessary for children and families to be held at Dungavel. We should be investing the money in decent, humane accommodation for asylum-seekers. Why do we differentiate between asylum-seeking children and our own children?  Liz Nicholson, director of Shelter Scotland

"How the hell do the Home Office ever get to know the feelings of the people of Scotland unless our democratically elected representatives speak on our behalf? They’re not, they are keeping their mouths shut. They need to show modern leadership. I don’t care whether it’s a reserved issue or not. It is about humanity. It’s a level of how you wish to be described as human beings, how we wish to present ourselves to the outside world. That is bound to be important and that rises above any issues of what is reserved and what’s not. That comes down to human beings and human beings. It is a modern disgrace. So whatever the limits on the Scottish Executive, they’ve got to rise above them. They’ve got to have the moral courage to say, “To hell with Westminster. We represent the people of Scotland. This is what the people of Scotland feel and we wish an end to Dungavel”. David Hayman, actor, director of spirit aid

"I am outraged that innocent men, women and children are 'detained' without time limit, sometimes for a year or more, in an institution which seems little different to a prison. Jailing children at Dungavel also breaches the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. I believe that Dungavel Detention Centre has no place in a civilised society and should be closed down." From: Angus  Whyte, 27 November 2003 09:30

"This situation is appalling, children need to mix with their peers to get social education. What does this teach them but to live in isolation. They are not criminals. Anyone who leaves their own
country to find a better life for any reason, are well motivated individuals who are prepared to work. I see this in our organisation which tutors children, some are asylum seekers and they know how to work. We need people like that in our country, they would be an asset".  From: Sheila Leitch Volunteer Tutors Organisation (Glasgow)

I too am outraged that innocent men, women and children are 'detained' without time limit, sometimes for a year or more, in an institution which seems little different to a prison. Jailing children at Dungavel also breaches the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. I believe that Dungavel Detention Centre has no place in a civilised society and should be closed down. John Dickie, Edinburgh

As a disabled middle-aged man living in contemporary Scotland I really do understand discrimination.   As some one who used to be very active politically on the left and was thrown out of the Labour Party in the 80's for reading a copy of 'Militant' I support you and your efforts.   If there is anything I can do from here, just ask? Peter Gunn ,  Glasgow 

I and the Justice and Peace Campaign had one clear aim when we set out. It was ending the detention of families. Across the UK, but particularly focusing on Dungavel as the worst example because it was a former prison.  It does not suit the purpose of putting people in there and calling it a name, detention centre, removal centre. Keep calling it a prison, or a former prison, don’t call it anything else ‘cause that’s what it is. The other aim is in fact to get United Nations Convention for the Rights of the Child actually adhered to 100% by this government. It’s a shame on this government. We are refusing to implement clearly the section that says, ‘Only in exceptional circumstances and fore the shortest time possible should children be held in any form of detention and only then because it keeps them with their parents and that’s the reason why we do it.  Michael Connarty, Labour MP

"The internment of children at Dungavel and elsewhere, combined with the withdrawal of basic legal entitlements to housing and to care for their own children and to legal aid funding illustrate the hapless plight of the stateless. Legal and human rights are being selectively applied. Human rights denied in countries of origin are being denied here. The Nuremburg statutes of 1935 denied legal status to the Jews of Germany as a necessary precursor not only to licence the state in whatever measures it chose to apply to non-citizens. This division of humanity into different orders of being is not only an affront to those involved, it is an affront to the host community in Scotland whose right of hospitality is likewise being denied to us behind the screen of "non-devolved responsibility." The prison system, housing and social work are devolved functions, and we cannot allow constitutional nit-picking to make us complicit in an abnegation of our common humanity whose implications are nothing short of monstrous. Closing Dungavel to children with families is a first, but not a last step towards not only a humane immigration policy, but to government for ourselves". Peter Arnott, Chair, Scottish Society of Playwrights

I am more than happy to add my name to the many who are outraged that a place like Scotland, with such a history of care and support for people who are suffering in one way or another could allow the barbaric practices being adopted at Dungavel. All power to the campaign and let us hope that someone from the Labour Governments in Westminster or Edinburgh will listen to the views of so many and reverse their position Councillor Charlie Forbes SNP member for Tillicoultry West

"As someone who voted 'yes, yes' in the referendum for the Scottish Parliament, I am disgusted and outraged at the detention of any asylum seeker, adult or child, in Dungavel prison. The Scottish Executive - and the others who condone it - should hang their heads in shame. They were not put into Government to serve their masters in Westminster, but to fulfil the hopes and aspirations of the Scottish people. This, as far as I am aware, did not include locking people in prison who seek only to be allowed to live their lives in a place of safety. Shame on you! You are a disgrace".
Gillian Coyle

I give 100% support to closing down this detention centre! you have MY support! Sairah Qureshi

"In the 21st Century in Scotland, children are being denied education, being deprived of play and being locked up in jail. This state of affairs shames us all". Mike Arnott, Secretary, Dundee TUC

"This detention and treatment of people who have sought safety and help is fulfilling neither of these things and is neither progress nor evolution. At all our turns Scotland should be setting a good example of better ways of being - this is not it. May the Scottish Executive find the strength and courage to be more human and rise above whatever fears are keeping them on this course of inhumanity and shame. May they listen to the people they have been elected to serve". Mandy Evans Ewing

"Close Dungavel now!!!!! Let's start treating people as human beings. Animals in a zoo have more right than these people. They are fellow humans after all !!!!" Graeme Crossley

I wholeheartedly support the campaign to free innocent children and people fleeing persecution in Dungavel and share the shame of having campaigned for a government which not only condones but perpetrates these crimes in my name. Linda Shanahan

I feel it is degrading and inappropriate that people should be locked up in what is in effect a prison environment, and this must be particularly traumatic for those who have previously been imprisoned and tortured in the countries from which they have had to flee. For children this can only stunt their emotional and mental development. Scotland and the UK used to be a place of refuge for those suffering from persecution and now we are doing this to those who come to us for refuge!!! Fariha Thomas

Jeremy Weston, Archie McArthur; Lynn Evans, Jennifer Monahan, London; Barbara Harrell-Bond, Distinguished Visiting Professor, Forced Migration and Refugee Studies, American University in Cairo, PO Box 251, Cairo 11511, EGYPT; andy benson & penny waterhouse, London;  Barbara J Scott, Scottish Parliament;

I wish to offer my support to all who are involved in campaigning for the closure of this disgusting and inhumane detention centre. Patricia Keogh

As a member of Friends of the Refugees Ayrshire and Amnesty International and a resident of Ayrshire I feel that Dungavel Detention Centre is not only a disgrace on our doorstep but a shocking display of how the UK government does not care about human rights. I urge anyone not already campaigning for the rights of refugees to get behind this and other campaigns and hope to see lots of supporters at the Dungavel St Andrews Day Demonstration!

Professor Kathleen Marshall, Children's Commissioner, Scotland:  "I don't think children should be locked up at all. I am sure there are better ways we can deal with the situation that arises with regard to asylum-seeking children. I want to be party to looking at some of those. I would like to see that all children have the freedom to develop in the way that is most helpful to them." Professor Marshall said the split in responsibility between Westminster and Holyrood had put the executive in an awkward position. "It has been difficult for them because there has been a lack of clarity." However, she added: "I have been quite clear about saying there are reserved matters but there are no reserved children. We have a responsibility to ensure their human rights are respected."

February 2004, The Herald (Glasgow)