No Pride in Detention
This week The Refugee Buddy Project will be marching at Hastings Pride 2022, highlighting the campaign No Pride in Detention.
Director of Operations and Campaigns, Alex Kempton, explains why the Charity has joined this campaign.
Hastings Pride will take place this year on 28th August and will start with a march at 11am from The Stade in Hastings Old Town all the way down to The Pier, where the main entertainment and activities will be on the day. We are delighted to be taking part in this year’s Pride march, representing not only the many people of refugee background in the LGBTQ+ community who we support here in East Sussex, but also people seeking refuge all over the UK who are affected by the worsening Hostile Environment.
This year we have joined the campaign No Pride in Detention and our banner for Pride is emblazoned with this slogan. The No Pride in Detention campaign highlights the specific violence faced by members of the LGBTQ+ community in immigration detention in the UK.
The UK has a particularly draconian immigration detention system which detains an estimated 27,000 people per year. People seeking refuge, EU nationals, and torture and trafficking survivors can be - and routinely are - picked up at the drop of a hat and detained for an indefinite amount of time. This lack of restriction on how long people can be kept in detention – known as Indefinite Detention – is an issue which has been campaigned on for many years across the sector. According to research by Detention Action, the cost of running the detention estate in 2013/14 was £164.4m. Independent research by Matrix Evidence has found that £76 million per year is wasted on the long-term detention of migrants who are ultimately released. In addition, between 2012 and 2015 the Home Office paid out almost £14 million in compensation following claims for unlawful detention. Detention Action also highlight the fact that since 2000, at least 49 people have died in UK detention centres, and incidents of self-harm are now recorded at more than one a day.
Rainbow Migration, the organisation leading the No Pride in Detention campaign, provide practical and emotional support for LGBTQ+ people seeking asylum, as well as specialist legal information and advice, and campaign to improve the treatment of people seeking asylum.
The campaign focusses on the particular impact of detention on LGBTQ+ people because detention deprives them of their freedom and cuts them off from support networks. They are often bullied and discriminated against by staff and others, which is not only re-traumatising but can lead to people going back into the closet for their own safety, making it harder for them to “prove” they are LGBTQ+ as part of their asylum claim.
The Refugee Buddy Project stands for an end to detention in its entirety. It is unnecessary and expensive, and a violent experience for all people seeking refuge. We recognise that the LGBTQ+ community inhabit a particular intersection where both their immigration status and sexual orientation and or gender identity increase their risk of harm in the Hostile Environment generally, and in the detention system specifically. This is why we are joining with other refugee and migrant organisations and LGBTQ+ organisations to call on the wider LGBTQ+ community to stand in solidarity with our refugee siblings and call for an end to detention. There is no pride in detention.
Join us at Hastings Pride on 28th August, where we will have leaflets about the NPiD campaign. You can also join the campaign as an individual or organisation on the Rainbow Migration website.