Women who said they had been raped by people smugglers are “not adequately supported” in British centres for English Channel migrants, findings show.
Inspectors say migrants are living in "very poor" conditions in detention centres, including reports of unaccompanied children being held in areas with unrelated adults.
A separate assessment of conditions found injuries, including serious burns, were not detected or properly treated by staff.
The Inspectorate of Prisons and the Dover and Heathrow Independent Monitoring Boards (IMBs) – made up of volunteers given the responsibility by ministers to report on conditions – visited migrant detention centres in the past three months.
“Our last inspection in September 2020 found that these facilities were badly equipped to meet their purpose.," said Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor.
“Following that inspection, we were assured by the Home Office that rapid action would be taken to improve both strategic planning and the conditions in which detainees were held.
"However, despite some limited progress, detainees, including large numbers of unaccompanied children, continued to experience very poor treatment and conditions.
“It is unclear why there had been such delays following the assurances that we were given by the Home Office after our last inspection.
"Leaders told us of difficulties in co-ordinating the various partners whose co-operation was required, but this was not a sufficient explanation for why, one year later, we still found people being held for even longer in conditions that were so inadequate.”
National IMB chairwoman Dame Anne Owers, who was so concerned by the findings from Kent that she raised them with Home Office ministers, said: “It is clear that urgent action is required.”
The findings described families with young children among the many to spend more than 24 hours in tents when arriving at the initial processing area in Tug Haven, Dover.
There were “significant” protection concerns over unaccompanied children being “regularly held together” with other men, women and families in the same area.
“Inspectors were concerned by inadequate follow-up care for two women who said they had been raped and another who said she had been sold into domestic servitude,” the findings stated.
Inspectors visited Tug Haven on the “least busy day”, between October 8 and 11, when 400 people slept there overnight. They raised concerns over:
– The “increasingly cold conditions”, particularly on double-decker buses sometimes used for sleeping;
– Children, including toddlers and babies, as well as potentially vulnerable adults, being held at Tug Haven overnight;
– An “increasing number of injuries among migrants”, including fuel burns, and cuts and bruises on feet, which were not noticed at Tug Haven and also could be missed at Kent Intake Unit and Frontier House, where migrants are later taken. In one case, they said a “16-year-old girl who had fuel burns on her legs and had been at Tug Haven for two days wearing wet clothes did not have her injuries detected until she was admitted to the KIU. By this time, the seam of her clothes had become embedded into the burns and a medic reported that the girl was likely to be scarred for life";
– Delays in providing a promised new facility.
The findings also raised problems with those then moved to the Heathrow Immigration Removal Centre, which “lacked either the infrastructure or staff” to support the arrivals.
IMBs found that on one night, four coaches arrived and detainees had to sleep on the floor without proper sanitary arrangements.
They described the conditions as “unacceptable and degrading but unavoidable, given the lack of regard to the centre’s ability to process arrivals”.
Mr Taylor’s report said about 2,000 people, including more than 700 lone children, had been held at KIU or Frontier House in the three months before October “for an average of more than 26 hours”.
“The longest detained person was held for over four days and the longest detained child had been held for over 90 hours,” the report said.
The Home Office has been contacted for comment.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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2. Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe
3. Elia Viviani (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers
4. Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) BikeExchange-Jayco
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10. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) UAE Team Emirate
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Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Tottenham 0-1 Ajax, Tuesday
Second leg
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Game is on BeIN Sports
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Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
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Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
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Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Graduated from the American University of Sharjah
She is the eldest of three brothers and two sisters
Has helped solve 15 cases of electric shocks
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US households add $601bn of debt in 2019
American households borrowed another $601 billion (Dh2.2bn) in 2019, the largest yearly gain since 2007, just before the global financial crisis, according to February data from the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
Fuelled by rising mortgage debt as homebuyers continued to take advantage of low interest rates, the increase last year brought total household debt to a record high, surpassing the previous peak reached in 2008 just before the market crash, according to the report.
Following the 22nd straight quarter of growth, American household debt swelled to $14.15 trillion by the end of 2019, the New York Fed said in its quarterly report.
In the final three months of the year, new home loans jumped to their highest volume since the fourth quarter of 2005, while credit cards and auto loans also added to the increase.
The bad debt load is taking its toll on some households, and the New York Fed warned that more and more credit card borrowers — particularly young people — were falling behind on their payments.
"Younger borrowers, who are disproportionately likely to have credit cards and student loans as their primary form of debt, struggle more than others with on-time repayment," New York Fed researchers said.
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What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
