Tzelem and René Cassin: Indefinite Detention Campaign

Tzelem's main campaign in 2015-16 has seen rabbis partner with the Jewish human rights' charity René Cassin to fight for the end of indefinite immigration detention in the UK. The sad fact is that the UK is the only country in Europe where asylum seekers can be detained indefinitely. For full background to the issue, you may want to read:

• the Executive Summary of The Report of the Inquiry into the Use of Immigration Detention in the United Kingdom by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees & the All Party Parliamentary Group on Migration

• the Briefing on Immigration Detention in the UK by The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford

• the Shaw Review into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons 

Tzelem's campaign started off after a meeting of Tzelem rabbis with Michael from Freed Voices in March 2015. Having heard Michael's powerful story, none of the rabbis in the room felt like they could turn their back on the issue. Our efforts thus far have included:

• A rabbis' visit to Harmondsworth Detention Centre in April 2015. Read more about this here.

• The Tzelem and René Cassin  'Time for a Time Limit' interfaith tent in July 2015. Read more about this here.

• In January 2016, Tzelem rabbis invited peers to join René Cassin for a briefing about indefinite detention and urged them to vote for ammendments to the Immigration Bill that would include a time limit on detention.

• In April 2016, Tzelem together with René Cassin invited faith leaders and parliamentarians to an event in the House of Common to lobby in favour of ammendment 84 and a review of the asylum detention system. Read more about this here.

There is still time for you to get involved in our campaign!

Write to your MP!

Tzelem Rabbis and their congregants can get involved in just one easy step:

1. Write to your MP now and ask them to support Lords Amendment 84 of the Immigration Bill which returns to the House of Commons on Monday, 25 April. You can find all the information you need about that amendment here.  You may wish to use the draft letter by JCORE which includes three other important amendments to the Immigration Bill.  Make sure you mention our successful event at Parliament which shows that our community cares about detention reform.