Archbishop supports calls for end to detention of young asylum seekers

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has given his backing to a call from the Independent Asylum Commission for a more humane and dignified treatment of those seeking sanctuary in the UK.

The Commission called in its new report, 'Deserving Dignity' published on Thursday, for a comprehensive review into the detention of an estimated 2,000 children each year.

The Archbishop drew particular attention to the need to use detention more sparingly and to end detention as a means for dealing with children seeking asylum.

"This is an important report that makes sensible and clear recommendations about how we should be treating some of the most vulnerable people in society," he said.

Many Anglican chaplains serve the spiritual and emotional needs of asylum seekers within detention centres.

"They have seen the scars, both figurative and literal, left by torture and abuse on people who are currently deprived of liberty, even though they have broken no laws and pose no threat to our society," the Archbishop said.

"The continuing use of detention for children seeking asylum- the most exposed of an already vulnerable group - needs to end."

He called on the Borders and Immigration Agency to review the current asylum process, saying that the best interests of the child should always be "paramount" in the administration of the immigration system.

"It can never be justifiable for a child to be detained because the system is not equipped to meet their needs."

The Commission, made up of politicians, lawyers and church leaders, also warned against the use of X-rays to assess the age of young asylum seekers and urged the Government to repeal a law making it possible for the children of failed asylum seekers into care.

"'Deserving Dignity' is an apt title for this report," said Dr Williams. "The dignity that each of us expect and deserve as human beings and which we owe to our neighbours, cannot be wholly at the mercy of the pressures of effective border control.

"Alternatives to detention in cases where there is no threat to national security or real risk of absconding - as outlined in this report - need to be considered carefully and without the hysteria or preconceptions so often accompanying debates of this kind."