http://www.disabilitynow.org.uk/latest-news2/court-victory-gives-hope-to-disabled-detainees
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PRESS RELEASE . . . PRESS RELEASE . . . PRESS RELEASE . . . PRESS RELEASE . . .
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Precedent-setting disability discrimination case will be heard in court. High Court rules that Home Office and Kalyx Ltd are bound by 1995 Disability Discrimination Act. Peter Gichura, a wheelchair user, can sue over conditions in immigration detention. |
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High Court rules that anti-discrimination law does apply In 2006, Peter Gichura was detained twice in Harmondsworth in appalling conditions, including: not being able to use the bathroom and toilet properly and inadequate medical treatment, given the wrong medication.
Under the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), which outlaws discrimination in employment, and provision of goods and services, Mr Gichura sued the Home Office (HO) and Kalyx Ltd, the private company which runs Harmondsworth detention centre, for compensation for discriminatory treatment. The HO & Kalyx tried to get the case dropped, claiming that detention for immigration control is exempt from anti-discrimination law.
On 20 May, the High Court ruled that the DDA applies to the services (food, washing facilities, etc.) which a person receives once s/he has been detained. Therefore Mr Gichura’s case should go forward to trial.
This ruling establishes that all disabled prisoners in custody, including those in prison, before December 2006 (when new regulations came in) do have the protection of anti-discrimination legislation.
In May 2007, the Home Office tried to send Mr Gichura back to Kenya, but were stopped when a judge ruled they could not deport their opponent in a precedent-setting case.
Campaigning with Payday and WinVisible, based at the Crossroads Women's Centre, Mr Gichura has received widespread public sympathy. Anne Owers, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, condemned the conditions at Harmondsworth as “the poorest report we have issued on an Immigration Removal Centre” (Nov 2006). Conditions at Harmondsworth have also prompted ongoing protests, including hunger strikes, by those being held there.
This ruling comes amid public concern and objection to the brutal treatment meted out by the Home Office, including the deportation of terminally-ill people, the detention and imprisonment of children, vulnerable women and young people, including those traumatised by rape and other torture and/or with long-term ill-health, mental health problems and other disabilities.
Still at risk of deportation Peter Gichura is still at risk of deportation as his claims for asylum – first on grounds of persecution, and then on his need for accessible living conditions and medical treatment, were refused by the Home Office. Given the violence in Kenya, it is shocking that a severely disabled person who faced anti-Kikuyu persecution can be returned. |
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“I thank all those who have supported me. I am determined not to be sent back and to continue to claim our rights to safety and protection, as people with disabilities and as human beings. Together we can change things and live a decent life.” Peter Gichura
“This High Court ruling is important for all detained and imprisoned people, all people with disabilities, and everyone concerned by the increasingly brutal policies of this government.
“We oppose the apartheid standard of treating some of us as if our lives are worth less. We refuse to accept a choice between death in our home country and inhuman treatment in the UK. |
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“We want a caring society where destitution, humiliation and other suffering are not accepted as policy.” Claire Glasman, from WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities)
WinVisible
(women with visible and invisible disabilities) |
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