Resolution number
22
Whereas
- Refugee claimants not infrequently find themselves in detention even after they have been found eligible;
- All persons detained in an Immigration Holding Centre are routinely transported to and from hearings in handcuffs and those held in jail (detained under Immigration Act) are conveyed in handcuffs and leg irons;
- These restraints are in certain cases not removed even when a refugee claim is heard before the IRB;
- This seems to contradict the spirit in which a refugee claim is supposed to be made;
- The practice is a violation of UN standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners;
Therefore be it resolved
that the CCR ask the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration:
- To instruct Immigration enforcement officials that all restraints be removed before an IRB hearing;
- To ask the IRB to provide a reasonable and sufficient level of security so that restraints can be removed safely and in a way that the claimants are not compromised, the Board members remain without bias and a clear and fair refugee hearing can take place.
Working Group
Inland Protection