Below is the text of a flyer which can be used to protest at Barnardo's shops, events etc. Please print and distribute!
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Stop Barnardo's profiting from prisons!
Barnardo's says that it 'believes in children'. Yet it profits from imprisoning them!
Barnardo's runs "play facilities" at Cedars, a prison for migrant families near Gatwick airport managed by security thugs G4S.
Barnardo's claim that they are involved in the prison, which the UK Border Agency (UKBA) refers to as a "pre-departure accommodation centre", as they want to help those children who are most as risk. But if Barnardos were not involved the government may have to close it down. The government states publicly that it is their policy not to detain children.
There is a raft of evidence detailing the harm that detention does to children. Al Aynsley Green, ex-Children's Commissioner for England had clearly stated "Detention is harmful to children and therefore never likely to be their best interests".
Migrants can be held at Cedars for up to a week and then will be taken, in handcuffs, to airports where they are deported.
The deportation itself can be very violent, even fatal. Faith, a Nigerian asylum seeker who was detained in Cedars last September with her three children, told the Guardian that during her (failed) deportation to Italy she thought she was going to die. In 2010, Angolan Jimmy Mubenga was killed by G4S guards on a BA flight from Heathrow (the case is still with the Crown Prosecution Service).
Moreover the majority of people are deported to countries such as Afghanistan and DR Congo where the risk of further imprisonment, torture and death is high.
London NoBorders has been campaigning against Barnardo's involvement in prisons since March 2011. We have held a number of protests including at Barnardo's HQ in February (search "Barnardo's protest" on YouTube to see the video!)
We demand that Barnardo's withdraw from their contract with the UKBA immediately! No detention no deportation!