Stop the detention of women at Derwentside
Stop the detention of women at Derwentside
Latest: April 13, 2023
Campaign win!!
What is Derwentside detention centre?
The government opened a new immigration detention centre, Derwentside (formerly known as Hassockfield), for women near Consett, County Durham in December 2021.
Derwentside is the first new detention centre to open in almost 8 years, marking a dangerous shift in the wrong direction.
The Home Office accepts that detention is harmful and have previously committed to locking up fewer people. By opening Derwentside, they have gone back on this promise.
Most women held in immigration detention are survivors of trafficking, rape and other forms of gender-based violence. Detention is re-traumatising and harmful, as well as being expensive and unnecessary.
Unlike in other detention centres, where men are detained, women at Derwentside can only access legal advice over the phone. This can have very damaging consequences for their cases.
Women are being disadvantaged and the government does not care. But we do, and we know you do too!
This detention centre should never have opened in the first place.
Why should it close?
Derwentside has capacity for 84 women to be locked up at any one time and replaces Yarl’s Wood as the main site where women are detained for immigration purposes.
There is no provision for in-person legal advice for women at Derwentside. Unlike in other detention centres in the UK, where men are detained, women at Derwentside are only able to access legal advice over the phone.
This is problematic and dangerous.
- The majority of women in detention are survivors of sexual or other gender-based violence. Survivors of such violence have particular difficulties in disclosing what has happened to them, including because they can feel ashamed. They need to feel safe and build trust in order to talk about what has happened to them.
- Women will be expected to disclose their traumatic experiences to someone they have never met, over the phone. We know that a consistent in-person connection is the best method of legal advice, so women can develop a rapport, feel safe and able to talk.
- Difficulties in disclosing previous experiences can have significant negative consequences for women in detention. It can result in: delays in release from detention; inaccurate or incomplete legal advice being given; and their credibility being questioned.
- The mobile reception at Derwentside is very poor. We have found it difficult to get hold of women we are in touch with, and we have also been cut off several times during phone conversations with women there. It is also very difficult for women to find quiet and private spaces within Derwentside that also have mobile reception, which poses an additional barrier to disclosure.
We must not let the government get away with this.
This new detention centre should have never opened in the first place.
Detention is a political choice that inflicts lasting harm on women, their families and the wider community. Women’s asylum claims can be more effectively and humanely handled while they are living freely and with support in the community.
Who are we?
Women for Refugee Women is a charity which supports and empowers refugee and asylum-seeking women in the UK.
We have been leading the Set Her Free campaign against the detention of women for many years and have published many reports documenting the harm that detention causes.
Our small detention campaigns team have been working tirelessly since we first heard about this new detention centre to prevent it from opening. And now we need your help.
Agnes Tanoh, our Detention Campaign Spokesperson, who was herself detained at Yarl’s Wood for over three months in 2012, says:
“When you come here to seek protection from abuse, exploitation and persecution but instead the Home Office locks you up, you wonder if you are in a good country or in hell. I am still living with the trauma of detention and I don’t want other women to go through this pain.
From my own experience I know how important it is to meet your solicitor and build trust so that you can tell them your story. Body language is so important. To see a warm and kind face is like a hug when you need it most. Imagine having to tell a stranger about the most horrific intimate violence you have suffered. It’s not right. Women seeking safety should be able to live freely in their communities and have access to justice.”
What are we trying to achieve?
Derwentside detention centre should never have opened in the first place.
Detention is harmful, expensive and unnecessary. It is much better for women to continue their asylum claims within the community and with their loved ones.
We want Derwentside to be shut down and for the detention of women to stop altogether.
How much are we raising and why?
To take this legal action, we need your help. Your donations will be used to pay court fees and legal costs.
We will ask the court for a ‘cost cap’ on the costs for the case, but we still need to raise money to cover the potential liability up to the cost of the cap.
We also need to fundraise a contribution to our legal team’s costs as they are working on a heavily discounted basis.
Thank you for your support!
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Women for Refugee Women
April 13, 2023
Campaign win!!
Women for Refugee Women
July 28, 2022
UPDATE: The Judgment
Today we have received the news that our legal challenge against the Government has not been successful. We are deeply disappointed with this outcome.
The judge who heard the case has not upheld our position that by detaining women in Derwentside without access to in-person legal advice, the Home Office denied them access to justice. The ruling states that the provision of legal advice via telephone or videocall for the first six months that Derwentside was operating was lawful. It notes that “the quality and convenience of modern video-conference facilities is very good, and comparable to an in-person meeting”, and that “the telephone is an adequate means of communication for most people".
Sadly, we know this is not the case for the women we’ve worked with in detention over many years – the majority of whom are survivors of rape and other forms of gender-based violence.
Disclosing past traumatic experiences, which are often central to women’s cases, is hard for women to do to an anonymous voice on the phone, or via videocall to a stranger. We know that there are already significant and particular barriers that women face in disclosing their experiences, such as shame and stigma. These are only exacerbated by remote legal advice.
We remain firm in our belief that a consistent in-person connection with a solicitor is the best method of legal advice, so women can develop trust and rapport and feel safe enough to talk about their traumatic experiences.
Though this wasn’t the outcome we had hoped for, we are so proud that with your support and solidarity we were able to hold the Government to account and advocate for women in Derwentside.
As a result of our legal challenge, the Home Office has been forced to secure new legal aid contracts to provide legal support to women in detention. However, the three legal aid firms who will be delivering this advice are based hours away. While we still have serious concerns about the ability of these providers to provide face-to-face support, it represents a small improvement to the serious gaps in legal provision that have existed since the centre opened.
Of course, this isn’t the end of our campaigning to end women’s detention. Together we can continue to push for change and to create a better and more welcoming society for women seeking safety.
We will update you again soon with possible next steps, including an appeal, so watch this space!
Women for Refugee Women
June 20, 2022
Rwanda flights and access to justice
This week is Refugee Week 2022. A week designed to celebrate the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking safety.
This year’s theme is healing, and no-one understands this better than those who have had to flee their homes and re-build their lives from scratch.
Yet the Government are choosing to punish people seeking safety.
As shown by the legal challenges against the planned flight to Rwanda last week, access to good quality legal advice can make all the difference between protection or further harm.
The Government has so far failed to send people seeking safety to Rwanda, but we know that they have not abandoned their plans. They’re already planning the next flight.
People being targeted for removal are currently being held in detention and the Government has not ruled out including women in these cruel plans.
We fear that the women we’re in touch with at Derwentside could be targeted in future. But it’s these same women who are being prevented from accessing justice.
Currently, women held at Derwentside are only able to access legal advice over the phone.
Without face-to-face legal advice, many will struggle to receive the protection they are entitled to.
That’s why, in one weeks’ time, we are taking the Government to Court over their decision to detain women at Derwentside without the provision for face-to-face legal advice.
Support our legal challenge and stand with women seeking safety this Refugee Week. We're at 89% of our target - please share widely with your friends and family!
Women for Refugee Women
May 12, 2022
BREAKING: We’re taking the Government to court in June!
We’ve been granted permission by a judge to proceed to the next stage of the legal challenge, and now have a date for the hearing at the end of June!
In the last few weeks, the Government have passed their cruel anti-refugee and anti-women Nationality and Borders Bill and announced plans to send people seeking safety to Rwanda. This marks an extremely worrying turning point in the UK’s approach to providing protection to those fleeing war and persecution.
We will not stand by while the Government threatens and punishes women seeking safety. We will do everything we can to stand up against their hostile anti-refugee agenda.
One way we’re doing this is by taking the Government to court in June!
Women seeking safety should be with their loved ones and in their communities, not locked up in immigration detention.
Derwentside should never have opened in the first place, and this is our chance to shut it down!
But we need your help to make it happen. Please spread the word to your friends and family to help us reach our target.
Together, we can stop the Government detaining women at Derwentside.
Thank you for your support!
Women for Refugee Women
March 8, 2022
Help end detention on International Women's Day
International Women’s Day is a day for celebration, to raise awareness of gender inequality and to take action for a better future.
But for some women in the UK, they’ll spend it locked up in detention.
Women who have come to our country to seek protection from war, persecution and violence are instead locked up by the government. They are locked up without access to face-to-face legal advice, which is available in other detention centres where men are held. The government are disadvantaging women and treating them unfairly.
As Agnes, our Detention Campaign Spokesperson said, “From my own experience I know how important it is to meet your solicitor and build trust so that you can tell them your story. Body language is so important. To see a warm and kind face is like a hug when you need it most. Imagine having to tell a stranger about the most horrific intimate violence you have suffered.”
Today, on International Women’s Day, and every other day of the year, we believe that all women deserve to live their lives freely, in safety and with their loved ones.
If you agree, please support us this International Women’s Day and help us take the government to court!
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