Unbelievably, there seems to be no forum or committee within the European parliament engaged in democratic scrutiny. Close Down Campsfield's Bill MacKeith, who is organising a pan-European conference in September to bring together European detention monitoring groups, has been trying to tease out information from European parliamentarians, but so far with scant success. The government instructed the immigration and prison services to carry out a major review of existing facilities in 1999 in the light of international condemnation of the UK practice of placing asylum-seekers within mainstream prisons, in violation of international standards. Victoria Tennant of the Law Centre Northern Ireland does not anticipate the government opening a special detention centre for asylum-seekers in Northern Ireland as immigration minister Barbara Roche has already indicated that the numbers do not warrant a purpose built centre. So they will, presumably, remain detained in Magilligan and Maghaberry prisons.
More countries follow Other countries are following suit.
Norwegian asylum groups are fighting a proposal to build a special detention centre close to Oslo airport to hold asylum-seekers whose claims have been rejected as well as those who arrive without identity papers. In Australia, detainees, mostly Iraqis and Afghanis, are held in guarded compounds. Italy fights back Across Europe, the internment of asylum-seekers is being opposed. The year 2000 started with a new militancy in Italy. Some 20000 people demonstrated in Milan and there were extraordinary scenes in Sicily when 3000 people stormed the Serraino Vulpitta centre, leading to 27 arrests.