In the UK, it is possible to indefinitely detain children without trial.

You may find this shocking. You're right. These children are detained because they are seeking asylum. The UK Government maintains a reservation on international legislation which prohibits the detention of children for immigration purposes. Detention of people seeking asylum, including families with children, is possible at each point of the asylum application. It is used mostly if there is an assumption that a case is clearly unfounded, if a claim for asylum has been unsuccessful, if the identity of the person applying for asylum is unclear, if there is a fear of absconding, or if removal from the country is imminent. However, there are also many cases where non of this applies. Regardless of why asylum seekers are detained, Save the Children and many other NGOs believe that the detention of children for immigration purposes is always wrong.

Refugee children living in Glasgow have made a film about the detention of children in the UK and you can view it online here, and even get your own copy of it. On the same site, you can also view a detention tree and a collection of writing by pupils of St Brendan's Primary School who lost some of their classmates to detention and removal. It's the result of what I, as part of a team, have been working on with various groups of young people over many months. It coincides with the announcement that more families and children will be detained in Scotland in the months to come.