No Place for a Child – Children in UK Immigration Detention: Impacts, alternatives and safeguards

Most children who immigrate to the United Kingdom do so because they seek protection, often from persecution, human rights violations, or the threat of wartime violence in their home country. Yet, they are met as hostiles when they enter their expected safe haven in the UK. They have to navigate a complex and inaccessible legal system, and some immigrant children are held in detention without having committed an offense.

Very little is known about the effect this has on the wellbeing of the detained children, and what long-term effect this has on them. This paper aims to gain a better understanding of this question, as well as to analyze and recommend alternatives to this practice that are in-line with international laws and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.