London: Leading medical organisations in the UK have warned that detaining children indefinitely in accordance with strict new immigration laws will result in "unimaginable levels of harm" and mental distress.
For children who are not in their families, detention is only permitted for a maximum of 24 hours, 72 hours, and 72 hours for pregnant women, respectively, under current laws.
The new Illegal Migration Bill would give the home secretary the authority to hold all migrant children, whether they are accompanied or not, indefinitely if it were to pass.
The British Medical Association, the Royal College of Psychiatry, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Faculty of Public Health, and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health have all signed a letter to Home Secretary Suella Braverman requesting an emergency meeting to discuss the mental and physical health of the public.
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Medical organisations cautioned that prolonged detention of children could lead to a variety of conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal thoughts.
In the first three years of the power, 45,000 children, including roughly 15,000 children who travelled to the UK alone without their parents, could be subjected to such treatment, according to a Refugee Council impact assessment.
The president of the Faculty of Public Health, Prof. Kevin Fenton, told the Guardian that there should be "no place for locking up children who have fled terrible circumstances to find safety in the UK." "The evidence is overwhelming that it has lifelong effects and causes horrific harm to their physical and mental health."
According to Doctors Without Borders, many children detained in Greece and Nauru under the same conditions experienced trauma and symptoms brought on by fear. Nightmares, behavioural problems, developmental regression, feelings of helplessness and detachment, skin conditions, and self-harm were some of these.
Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council, told the Guardian that "most people in the UK would rightly be appalled by the idea of locking up thousands of children who arrive here in search of safety, having fled war zones and persecution."
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"We know from our work that they are terrified and severely traumatised, in need of being looked after with great care," Solomon continued. Putting them in jail will only exacerbate their trauma and create a great deal of distress.
The exploitation of children who are used by traffickers and transported across the Channel cannot go on, a Home Office spokesperson told the Guardian.
"For this reason, under the illegal migration bill, families and children who enter the UK illegally will not be exempt from detention and removal.
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"Only very rare occasions may an unaccompanied child be detained. The statistics do not account for how the legislation will be implemented and do not make any provision for the deterrent effect of the legislation's measures.