Advocacy and Policy

Immigration detention is expensive, inefficient and unjust.  AVID works to improve the conditions and treatment of people detained, and to reduce the human cost of detention. 

AVID's advocacy work is based on the lived experiences of people who have been detained. There is a volunteer visitor group at every single detention facility in the UK. Each week, volunteers visit these otherwise inaccessible facilities, and hear first hand about the conditions and treatment of those held inside. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AVID works to research, collate and produce evidence and information on the realities of detention, and to use this as tool for positive change.  

Working with and through our member visitors groups we are able to present a national picture, and  strive to ensure that this evidence reaches decision makers, working to improve the situation for each and every person in detention.

AVID regularly attends Home Office stakeholder meetings on behalf of the network of visitors groups. We also work to engage with statutory monitoring bodies like Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons. We are regularly consulted about detention conditions nationally, and work to present this in a range of policy spheres including with international human rights mechanisms. We produce briefing papers, consultation responses and reports on key issues of concern, to improve detention conditions and inform policy locally and nationally.

Read our submissions and papers.

We are also a member of the Detention Forum, a national network of NGOs working to challenge the use of detention in the UK.

"AVID's position enables a balanced view, presented in a balanced way. This is very helpful - and if you don't do that for visitors groups, no one would" 

Yarl's Wood Befrienders 

Read about recent policy and advocacy news.