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National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC)
110 Hamstead Road
Birmingham B20 2QS
Phone: 0121-554-6947 Fax: 0121-554-7891
E-mail  ncadc@ncadc.org.uk
Web site:  http://www.ncadc.org.uk/
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Close what's left of Yarls Wood

Campaigners have called for a vigil/protest this evening in the wake of the Yarl's Wood fire. Demonstrators will be assembling outside the gates at Yarls Wood from 6.30 pm.

Asylum seekers lives in danger from inadequate fire protection

Some asylum seekers are still being detained in one building at Yarls Wood, untouched by the fire. This building has inadequate fire protection as there are no sprinklers installed
It has now emerged that the Home Office, deliberately refused to install a *sprinkler system in the buildings which housed still houses the asylum seekers.


Vigil Friday 15 Feb: 6:30pm
Yarl's Wood Detention Centre
Twinwoods Road
Clapham
Bedford
MK41 6HL


How to get there: From Bedford take A6 north towards Kettering, pass through Clapham village, at the roundabout turn right - Yarl's would is one and a half miles up the hill at the top.

*Home Office officials deliberately ignored advice from Bedfordshire Fire Service that sprinklers should be fitted at Yarls Wood Detention Centre. Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service Acting Deputy Chief Fire Officer Clive Walsh said the Yarl's Wood centre had no sprinklers. "We were asked for our opinion at the end of 2000, early 2001, and it was our advice to have sprinklers in a building of this type.

Damage so far has been estimated at 35 million pounds


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Joint statement by Campaign Against Arbitrary Detention at Yarls Wood and the Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers

Yarl’s Wood Blaze Highlights Inhumanity of Detention Regime

Emma Ginn, a local Bedford resident and founder of the Campaign Against Arbitary Detention at Yarls Wood has responded to the fire, which has caused an estimated £35 million in damage to the Yarl’s Wood detention centre. "Whatever the exact details of last night’s events, the fire and the official response to it have realised the worst fears of those of us who have campaigned against the Yarl's Wood complex."


In a joint statement with the national Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers (CDAS), Emma Ginn added that "There was a tragic inevitability to the fire, but above all the Yarl's Wood events spell out how fundamentally wrong the whole policy of arbitrary detention has been." The secretary of CDAS, George Binette, said "This massive blaze comes at a time when the Home Secretary is seeking to push through Parliament a major extension of the detention regime. This will more than double the number of asylum applicants held in facilities like Yarl's Wood to some 4,000."

George Binette added that "a growing section of the refugee population has been 'criminalised'. The vast majority of detainees have never been charged with, much less convicted of any crime, and yet they can now be held indefinitely. There have been numerous cases of people being held for more than nine months.'

Campaigners have been fighting for nearly a decade against the use of arbitrary detention, whether in prisons or purpose-built centres, of people whose only 'crime' has been to seek refugee status in the UK. Goerge Binette said that, 'The multinational security firm, Group 4, has operated the Yarl's Wood facility under contract to the Home Office, despite its record at the Campsfield centre near Oxford. In 1997 an attempt to maliciously prosecute detainees on a riot charge spectacularly collapsed and it was found that Group 4 employees had actually caused the material damage. Ironically, the Home Secretary had indicated on 7 February that the Campsfield facility would soon close.

Emma Ginn said, "The aftermath of last nights fire has really brought home the contempt with which these people [the detainees] have been treated. The authorities have been far more concerned with how many asylum seekers might have 'escaped', rather than with the possibility of fatalities or serious injuries among the detainees. There was no helpline set up for the families and friends of detainees. Partially clothed women and children, including a two month old baby, were left to stand outside in sub zero temperatures. We already knew that some of these detainees were in need of medical treatment.

We now know from the Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service that, despite its recommendations, there were no sprinklers in a complex with 900 plus beds, despite the fact that it supposedly cost £100 million.

The Campaign Against Arbitrary Detention at Yarls Wood and CDAS are calling for a full public enquiry into the events at Yarl’s Wood, but in the meantime will be redoubling their efforts to highlight the plight of asylum detainees and push for an end to the detention regime in general.

-Ends-

General inquiries
Viv Smith 07905 589865

Campaign Against Arbitrary Detention
Emma Ginn 0778 6517379

Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers
Alan Gibson (Chair): 07905 566183

George Binette (Secretary): 07905 926405
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The Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers was established in spring 2000 and is organising, in conjunction with a number of other local and national campaigns, a conference in Manchester on 23 March. Confirmed speakers include MPs Norman Baker and Jeremy Corbyn, civil rights lawyer Louise Christian, the noted author Teresa Hayter and long-standing anti-racist campaigner Suresh Grover, chair of the National Civil Rights Movement