The Lewes Group in Support of Refugees and Asylum Seekers are holding the latest of their bi-monthly meetings in the Westgate One World Centre. “In 2001 we became aware of a huge swell of demonising refugees and asylum seekers, and the fact there was little to no government leadership on the issue,” says co-founder Joan Shall. “Appalled at this we called an open meeting. A lot of people attended and we now have 78 active members.” The group suspected that a number of asylum seekers were being housed in Lewes prison, and they were right. “When there’s upheaval in one of the detention centres,” she continues, “detainees can be dispersed to prisons. These are not convicted criminals: it is an appalling experience.”

Tonight’s meeting will focus on the treatment of asylum seeking children in the UK. “We are in the middle of a campaign on that issue, and we will be giving an update on what’s happening,” says committee member Jane McIntosh. “We’ve been promoting the ‘No Place for a Child’ campaign and are doing what we can to raise awareness of the fact that 2000 asylum-seeking children are detained in the UK every year. The children feel they are being punished and further traumatised by this negative impact on their health, well-being and education.” The meeting is open to anyone who is interested in finding out more about this issue, so easy to ignore in a town where we rarely witness the increasingly negative impact of government policy on asylum seekers who often have little option but to flee their country of origin. AL