GREEN PARTY CONDEMNS CAMPSFIELD HOUSE - SUPPORTS HUNGER STRIKERS

The Green Party of England and Wales today reiterated its condemnation of
the inhumane detention of asylum seekers across the UK, and in particular
the situation at Campsfield House in Oxfordshire. Over 100 detainees,
detained without trial for an indefinite period, are currently on hunger
strike in protest at the conditions within the infamous detention centre.

Councillor Matt Sellwood, who is Deputy Leader of the Oxford City
Council Green Group and Home Affairs spokesperson for the South East
Region Green Party, commented: "The Green Party has long been opposed
to the detention of asylum seekers. By treating vulnerable people like
criminals, we are violating our obligations to provide a safe haven for
the victims of persecution."

The administration of Campsfield House was recently taken over by GEO
(Global Expertise in Outsourcing), formerly known as Wackenhut - a
multinational corporation with a reputation for harsh treatment of
prisoners. GEO have already cut the hours available to detainees for
educational activities, and reports indicate that they have been treating
detainees in the same fashion as they treat criminals in their penal
facilities.

Cllr Sellwood continued: "The Green Group has already passed a successful
motion through the City Council calling for the closure of Campsfield
House, and other district councils in Oxfordshire have expressed the
same sentiment. Its existence is a stain on the conscience of our town.
We call on the government to heed the protests of the detainees and to
treat them like human beings. We would welcome them into our community,
if only Labour would let us."

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Below is the letter written by the hunger strikers in Campsfield House,
with which the Green Party expresses its solidarity:

"We are detainees at Campsfield removal centre in Oxford. Most of us have
been here for a long while now. There are people who have been detained
for up to two years and down to three months. We are cramped in here like
animals. We are treated like animals and moved around different detention
centres like animals. The immigration service have taken husbands from
their families and taken people who ran away from persecution in their
various countries, and dumped everyone in here. Once you are put in here
the immigration service forget you. There are detainees who have applied
to go back to their own countries that are still being held here for
months without any news about their cases, just so that the private
security companies get more money.

Detainees are asked to seek asylum and then refused. The immigration
service also ask detainees to apply for bail. When you get a bail hearing
date all of a sudden they serve you with removal papers that are not
valid. There are many of these situations. In most cases the immigration
service don't take you to your court hearings. And then they tell the
judges you refused to turn up, just so the hearing goes ahead in your
absence. Many detainees have been served with removal papers and travel
documents but nothing happens on the removal day.

Campsfield has become a slave house. We detainees are treated like slaves,
to do odd jobs for officers. Detainees are handcuffed to see doctors or
dentists in hospitals or clinic appointments. We have some racist security
officers who make racist comments to detainees and go out of their way to
make you feel like committing suicide. Detainees have to be at the point
of death before they get to see the doctors.

The food is not worth eating. Even dogs would refuse to eat what we eat.
But we don't have a choice; every single day we eat the same food."