Medical Justice AGM - 6.30pm 9th July 2009

Posted by Emma Ginn

Brian Keenan

Brian Keenan was held hostage in Beirut for over four years and shared a cell with John McCarthy. Brian has experienced indefinite detention, mistreatment and what it is to fear for one’s life. He says “I know what it is to detained by anonymous forces. A prisoner can be held by those who have little concern for who he is or his unique value as a human.”

Sir Al Aynsley-Green

Professor Sir Al Aynsley-Green’s April 2009 report on children at Yarl’s Wood ; “the UK should not be detaining any child who has had an unsuccessful asylum claim” and “Preventative healthcare arrangements prior to removal, for example immunisations and the provision of malaria prophylaxis, were found to be so inadequate as to endanger children's health.”

Programme :
6.30pm - Formal Business, Presentation of Accounts, Appointment of Trustees
6.45pm - Al Ainsley-Green, Brian Keenan, Medical Justice, Question Time
8.00pm - Drinks

Getting there :
Medical Justice AGM , 6.30pm Thursday 9th July 2009.
Venue : Holy Apostles Church, 47 Cumberland Street, London, SW1V 4LY.
Nearest tube : Victoria. There is no entry fee. Asylum seekers’ travel within London reimbursed if a receipt is provided.

In aid of Medical Justice at the AGM ;

An Evil Cradling
“Brian Keenan is not letting the world forget. This is a mighty achievement by a magnificent writer” - Irish Times. It is an autobiographical book about his 5 years as a hostage, revolving heavily around the great friendship he experienced with fellow hostage John McCarthy, and the brutality that was inflicted upon them. Five signed copies will be presented by Brian Keenan at the AGM to the highest bidders – email your sealed bid in advance to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Week’s holiday in the Dordogne, south of France
Within walking distance to Bergerac town centre, the river, and the station, a lovely 2-bedroom (6-sleeper) detached single-storey house with garden. Flights to Bergerac included. Timing subject to negotiation. The holiday will be auctioned at the AGM in aid of Medical Justice.

Please reserve your place at the AGM
Contact : This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Info : www.medicaljustice.org.uk

The Children’s Commissioner's visit to Yarl's Wood
Sir Al Aynsley-Green was accompanied to Yarl’s Wood by a consultant paediatrician who is a Medical Justice volunteer.

“The Children’s Commissioner was told of the admission to Bedford Hospital of a child who was found to have a central venous long-line in place. This is a tube from the heart coming out of the chest wall for the intravenous treatment of chronic conditions. It had not been noted at Yarl’s Wood and the nature of this condition should have precluded detention.”

“They pushed me on the floor and got my hands behind me (demonstrated how he was on floor) then they took me to the van. I was on my own in the van. I didn’t know what was happening to my family.” - 11 year old

“Why do they have to put us in cages?” - Girl, 11.

Medical Justice challenges medical abuse in immigration detention
Founded by an ex-detainee in 2005, we are a network of volunteer medical professionals, lawyers, ex-detainees, and others who arrange for independent doctors to visit 500+ detainees a year, many of whom suffer medical abuse in 10 immigration removal centres around the UK.

With evidence from our case-work we have secured a number of Home Office policy changes in response to medical abuse we have exposed. This has made detention somewhat less harmful.

We work with the media, provide training courses for medics and detainee befrienders, and issue “tool-kits” for advocates on our website. Limited funding means we have just one paid worker, depend on a network of dedicated volunteers, and are heavily reliant on kind donations.

The need for Medical Justice
About 25,000 people a year, including 2,000 children, are imprisoned indefinitely in detention centres run by private companies. Less than half have legal representation. Deportees are taken in blacked-out vans to the airport from detention centres including Harmondsworth where 99% of 'fast tracked' asylum seekers are refused, including people from places like DR Congo, Iran and Burma. Over the years, six detainees at Harmondsworth chose suicide rather than deportation.

What can be found in Immigration Removal Centres ;

Torture Victims – re-traumatised by detention in the UK. Few are able to get medico-legal reports to support their asylum claim.
Rape Victims – men, women and children. 70% of women were raped in their country.
HIV+ detainees – many face early death without access to medication “back home”.
Hunger strikers – in imminent danger of organ failure.
Denial of treatment, tests, test results and access to hospital - for serious medical conditions e.g. sickle cell, meningitis, HIV and TB.
Inappropriate or no provision of anti-malarials – for pregnant women and children, many of whom were born in the UK.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – many self-harm, including some children.
Assault – injuries seen include a punctured lung, a dislocated knee, and a broken finger.
Children – mostly detained at Yarl’s Wood, where there was a riot in 2002 and a suicide in 2005 – no place for a child.

Please download and distribute the AGM invitation

Last Updated on Friday, 05 June 2009 16:07

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