The British newspaper “The Observer” reports that unaccompanied migrant children arriving in the UK via small boats are being held in adult facilities housing a large number of sexual offenders. The report highlights an increasing number of cases where these minors are sent to HMP Elmley in Kent, a penitentiary designated for adult foreign nationals. Shockingly, many of these children appear to be victims of human trafficking.
According to the latest inspection at Elmley, the building where foreign nationals are detained also houses sexual offenders. Human Rights Network has identified at least 14 unaccompanied minors, one of whom was just 14 years old when he spent seven months in Elmley.
Immediate calls have been made for the Home Office to launch an investigation into the matter and urgently release anyone suspected of being a minor from adult facilities. Maddy Harris from the Human Rights Network asserts that among the 1000 children they have worked with, those sent to adult prisons were “the most severely affected.”
“These children are confined to their cells, deprived of proper legal counsel, and unable to challenge the arbitrary decisions made by immigration officials concerning their ages upon arriving in the UK,” said Harris. “These are children in search of safety, who instead find themselves in adult prisons, devoid of protection and exposed to significant harm,” she added.
Anita Horrell, head of the Migrant Children’s Project at Coram Children’s Charity, says that criminalizing these children and placing them in adult male prisons is dangerous and wrong.
The children, whose ages are contested by the Home Office, have been charged with immigration offenses under the Nationality and Borders Act, which became law last year and introduces stricter criminal penalties to deter illegal entry into the UK. Lawyers warn that the practice of sending unaccompanied minors to adult prisons is seemingly increasing. As of Thursday, a minor was identified in a Folkestone court en route to prison, and reports suggest that another minor was detained by police in Margate and is also expected to be sent to Elmley.
Critics argue that the jailing of minors is the latest face of a broken asylum system. On Thursday, the backlog of asylum applications soared to over 175,000 individuals, marking a 44% increase from last year, despite a near doubling of governmental spending on asylum. This exposes severe flaws in the immigration and asylum policies of the UK, adding a layer of ethical quandaries to an already complex legal landscape.
