Refugee and Asylum: Family Removals exhibition

An art exhibition and conference being held tomorrow will highlight issues concerning the forceable removal of those seeking refuge in the UK.

The 100 Mothers Movement event called 'Family Removals' will raise awareness about the maltreatment suffered as a result of removals and the impact on their families

The exhibition draws attention to the death of asylum seeker Jimmy Mubenga last October whilst being restrained by immigration escort guards, on a commercial flight as he was being deported to Angola -  a country that he had fled fourteen years earlier after facing persecution for his political activism.

100 Mothers Movement stated: "A picture paints a thousand words, and  motivated by the death of Jimmy Mubenga, our desire is to hold an art exhibition centred on the treatment of asylum seekers in this country.

“Therefore in order to create empathy towards the inhumane treatment of those suffering within this system we felt the need to move beyond words alone. It is for this reason that we chose to use a visual representation of the realities that take place as our vehicle. With the strongest of convictions, we are certain that if someone seeks refuge and sanctuary in this country, it cannot result in their further harm and certainly cannot culminate in their death.

"The plight and maltreatment of those seeking sanctuary is an issue on which this country places little to no regard. Asylum seekers whose position is already held together by uncertainty are exposed to violent experiences deeply entrenched within the detention system."

The campaigners say the exhibition 'is based on a 2008 the dossier, ‘Outsourcing Abuse’ a damning indictment of the failings of the detention system’.

Southbank Univiversity, London Road Building.  Tuesday, 29 March. 5 – 9pm