On Wednesday 2 March, at 9pm, BBC1 will be screening Asylum Undercover – The Real Story?, a programme ‘revealing evidence of racism and a culture of violence towards detainees within the UK’s asylum system’.
Over a period of three months, two BBC journalists worked undercover in a detention centre and for a company that escorts asylum seekers and immigrants around the country. The results of the investigation are to be broadcast next week in a documentary programme that is expected to reveal disturbing evidence of violence, abuse and assaults against detainees.
Emma Ginn, of the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns, told IRR news: ‘For the last nine months we have provided input into the BBC’s Asylum Undercover documentary. And for years anti-detention and anti-racist campaigners have been highlighting alleged violence and abuse against immigration detainees by Home Office contractors during detention and the removal process. Many of our allegations have been substantiated by various government reports but little has changed.’
Campaigners who assisted the programme-makers, together with former immigration detainees, will be holding a press conference at the Home Office on Thursday 3 March at 12pm.
Related links
BBC TV – Asylum Undercover