The British government has refused their asylum claim and tried to deport them - most recently locking-up the whole family in a detention centre - for 51 days! They have just been released and allowed to return to Manchester.

There have been recent reports in the press highlighting the harmful effects of detention on children. Detention can, “significantly impair a child’s mental and physical health,” (BID Report into the Detention of Children, March 2008). The Children’s Commissioner called it, “an inhuman process,” (Children’s Commissioner, September 08). Home Office guidance says that children should not be detained in this way.

The family is making challenges in the High Court - but it is not enough to put their faith in the law. So they have started a campaign - "Child "M" Must Stay!". Download a leaflet here.

"Child M, like the many other minors detained by the UK authorities in a clear breach of their human rights, has committed no offence - other than being born in a country which seeks to deny freedom of speech, then coming with his family to the UK where they believed their rights would be upheld. An immigration centre is no place for a child and the Green Party is calling on the Home Office to immediately end its policy of incarcerating innocent young people, as well as to allow Child M and his family to remain in the UK."
Caroline Lucas MEP