HC Deb 07 December 1993 vol 234 cc168-9W
Mrs. Roche

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what steps his Department takes to ensure that when deporting children article 3 of the United Nations convention on the rights of the child is upheld;

(2) how many children have been deported by his Department in the last year for which figures are available;

(3) what steps his Department is taking to ensure that when deporting children article 16 of the United Nations convention on the rights of the child is upheld;

(4) what steps his Department is taking to ensure that when deporting children article 24 of the UN convention on the rights of the child is upheld;

(5) what steps his Department is taking to ensure that when deporting children article 6 of the UN convention on the rights of the child is adhered to;

(6) what steps his Department is taking to ensure that when deporting children article 12 of the UN convention on the rights of the child is upheld.

Mr. Charles Wardle

No child under the age of 18 has been deported in the last year. In ratifying the United Nations convention on the rights of the child, the United Kingdom reserved the right to apply such immigration legislation as it deemed necessary from time to time.

In carrying out any deportation involving children, account is taken of the articles of the convention to which the hon. Member has drawn attention.

Mrs. Roche

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what immunisations his Department arranged for Nkechi Nwokedi to receive before she was deported to Nigeria with her mother on 9 July;

(2) what steps his Department takes to ensure that children deported with their parents receive the appropriate immunisations to protect their health in the country to which they are deported.

Mr. Charles Wardle

None. Nkechi Nwokedi was not deported. She accompanied her mother who was returned to Nigeria on 9 July as the subject of a deportation order. We understand that there is currently no requirement for people travelling to Nigeria to be immunised. However, Ms Nwokedi had been aware for some time of the intention to deport her and it would have been open to her to make arrangements for her child to be immunised, if she thought this desirable.

More generally, arrangements are made for immunisation to be provided, as appropriate, for any deportee who requests it, and would be extended on request to a child accompanying a deportee.