Justice for People Held Inside the Manston Facility
Justice for People Held Inside the Manston Facility
Latest: Nov. 22, 2022
Good News!
We have some good news!
In the last 24 hours, the Home Secretary has transferred all of the people being held at the notorious Manston facility into alternative accommodation.
Manston is now empt…
Read moreThe Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, has been holding large numbers of people - including families with children - in dangerous conditions at the Manston processing facility in Kent. At one point, up to 4,000 people were being held in a facility intended for, at most, 1,600.
INJUSTICE AND ILLEGALITY AT THE MANSTON FACILITY
Decisions by the Home Office have forced hundreds of people to live in tents without beds or any other furniture, where they have been forced to sleep on the ground, with no privacy, often for weeks on end.
After surviving the dangerous journey to reach the UK, children have been left to sleep next to adults they don't know.
It is unlawful and inhumane for the government to keep people in a facility like Manston for more than 24 hours. In some cases, the Home Secretary has held people there for more than a month.
Some detainees were moved or released by the Home Office in response to public outcry. But many detainees, including children, continue to be held unlawfully at Manston House. Without intervention by the courts, that situation is likely to continue.
OUR LEGAL CASE
We are issuing legal proceedings against the Home Secretary, alongside a woman who was held unlawfully at the Manston facility for three weeks. We have been joined in the challenge by a trade union that represents staff working at the facility.
We believe the Home Secretary has knowingly broken the law at Manston, by:
- Routinely holding people in detention beyond legal time limits;
- Failing to ensure that children are protected from harm;
- Forcing children and women to sleep alongside adult men they do not know;
- Failing to provide access to legal advice for people she has detained;
- Exposing people to infectious diseases due to overcrowding and poor sanitation.
SUPPORT OUR LEGAL CHALLENGE
We are raising an initial £15,000 to cover the basic costs of bringing a legal challenge against the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman.
Our challenge can help bring about justice for thousands of people detained unlawfully at the Manston facility, both now and earlier this year. We are seeking lasting change at the Manston facility, so that the disturbing scenes of recent months are not repeated.
People arrive at Manston after stepping off a boat, having braved a dangerous journey to find a new home here.
Previous records suggest that the vast majority of people held at Manston will claim asylum here and most will later be recognised as refugees. Other will likely have been trafficked and need specialised support as the victims of Modern Slavery.
People mistreated at Manston deserve dignity and justice. By supporting our legal challenge, you can help us to win it.
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Detention Action
Nov. 22, 2022
Good News!
We have some good news!
In the last 24 hours, the Home Secretary has transferred all of the people being held at the notorious Manston facility into alternative accommodation.
Manston is now empty.
After we sent our pre-action letter to the Home Secretary - challenging her illegal mistreatment of the adults and children she was holding there - her lawyers requested more time to respond to our criticisms.
We gave them an extra week to respond, but that deadline came and went with no substantive response. So, we began our preparations to take the Home Secretary to the High Court.
Only last night, six days after their extended deadline, did we receive their written response. By that time, the Home Secretary had already rushed to move people out of the Manston facility.
We're confident that our threat of legal action was a major motivation for the Home Secretary to move people out of Manston. And we couldn't have done it without your support and commitment to the rights of people seeking asylum.
Potentially thousands of people may be legally entitled to compensation for their mistreatment at Manston and we are calling for an independent inquiry to be held into conditions at the facility.
And the Home Secretary has not announced the closure of the Manston facility or made any changes that will prevent the kind of inhumane and dangerous conditions that developed there from arising again.
We are working with our legal team to decide our next steps on this issue and we'll be sure to keep you up to date.
For now, thank you for your support and know that your contribution has made a major difference.
Detention Action
Nov. 16, 2022
Halfway to our First Target!
Thanks to the commitment and generosity of almost 400 people over the last six days, we are now more than halfway to our first fundraising target.
Thank you!
Our legal challenge against Suella Braverman's mistreatment of people held in the Manston facility could make sure that no one crossing the Channel suffers that kind of appalling mistreatment again.
If we win, it will help to ensure that people seeking asylum here, and people trafficked here against their will, are no longer forced to sleep on the floor for weeks on end, in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions.
We could help ensure that no more children arriving by boat to the UK are put at risk by our Home Secretary again, held in dangerous conditions and made to sleep alongside adults they don't know.
We could make sure that people arriving here by boat have access to the emotional support, practical guidance and legal advice that they urgently need.
Thank you again to everyone who has donated already. Together, we can reach our goal.
Detention Action
Nov. 15, 2022
BBC Newsnight
As part of the extensive media coverage our legal challenge is receiving, last night BBC Newsnight showed an in-depth package on the controversies surrounding the Home Secretary's mismanagement of the Manston facility.
You can watch the piece on BBC iPlayer, here, at 21 minutes:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001f7v5/newsnight-14112022?page=2
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