Monday 17th June from 4pm
Join us on the 10km walk on 17th June to raise funds for Medical Justice to help immigration detainees get much-needed medical evidence and support to access free legal advice.
The Medical Justice team will include staff, trustees, ex-detainees, volunteer clinicians, interpreters, supporters, family and others who are fanatical about ending the injustice suffered by immigration detainees. Children are welcome. We will have a small flotilla of toddlers in pushchairs. Dogs are also welcome!
If you can’t join the walk yourself – please sponsor the team here.
Why walk?
Only 28% of immigration detainees have a legal representative funded by legal aid, according to Bail for Immigration Detainee’s latest survey in December 2018. Medico-legal reports from Medical Justice volunteer clinicians significantly increase the chances of a detainee being able to evidence their case and our work helps detainees to get good quality legal aid funded representatives. It can make the difference between getting released or being removed from the UK back into the arms of a regime that tortured them.
Walk 10km with us because you can – thousands of detainees can’t walk 10 metres inside their locked cell
Every year about 24,000 people are detained indefinitely, not because they are accused of any crime. Many detainees have suffered torture or ill treatment and have chronic health problems. There have been cases where detention was found to have amounted to “inhuman and degrading treatment” and inquests have concluded that neglect has contributed to deaths of detainees.
Medical Justice volunteer doctors visit detainees, expose and challenge instance of medical mistreatment and write medico-legal reports documenting detainees’ scars of torture, other serious medical conditions, injuries sustained during violent attempts to remove them from the UK. We handle about 1,000 detainee referrals a year. Medical evidence from our casework forms the basis of our research and policy work. We provide evidence to the Home Office about the terrible harm suffered by detainees but the abuse continues.
Medical Justice has successfully brought judicial reviews of the Home Office’s removals policies that enable it to remove people with no notice and often no legal advice or access to the courts.
The difference you can make
By joining our team of walkers or sponsoring us, you can help us reach more vulnerable detainees. £50 could cover the train fare for a volunteer clinician to visit a detainee to carry out a medical assessment.
The Walk is organised by the London Legal Support Trust which supports legal advice charities. Last year 13,000 walkers raised an amazing £830,000 to support the provision of free legal advice in London.
Every penny raised by the Medical Justice team goes straight to Medical Justice !
The walk ends in a street party
Registration is any time between 4pm – 7pm in Carey Street, to the rear of the Royal Courts of Justice. The main Medical Justice team will set off together as a group at 5pm, though other team members can set off earlier or later, independently, if they wish. The walk finishes back at Carey Street with a street party, including a jazz band, street food vendors, fire jugglers and musicians.
How much would I need to fundraise?
Medical Justice asks that walkers who are in a position to, could aim to raise £250 each.
How do I sign up to be a walker ?
There is no fee to register – all you need to do is email emma.ginn@medicaljustice.org.uk who will add your name to our team webpage (ex-detainees can use pseudonym if wanted) and email you back some details about the event, including the meeting point, maps, etc.
As a walker, how do I raise money for Medical Justice ?
Contact your friends, family, colleagues, and anyone who might sponsor you – ask them to donate online to the Medical Justice team’s page here. You can ask them to mention your name if you like.
If you would like to set up your own page, with your own target, and your own back-story – click here, then on “Campaign” at the bottom, then on “Start fundraising”, on ‘create new fundraising page for an individual’ and follow the steps to set up your own individual page. Or just ask us about it.
Any questions?
Email Emma on emma.ginn@medicaljustice.org.uk or call us on 0207 561 7498.
To set up a monthly donation to Medical Justice click here.
Law firms who already have a London Legal Walk team
The London Legal Support Trust allow you to designate up to 50% of the funds you raise to a specific agency (or agencies) if you have a significant partnership with the agency. This can include on-going pro bono support for Medical Justice. Please let us know if your law firm would like to donate money raised to Medical Justice. One wonderful law firm we work closely with is kindly donating 50% of the funds they raise to Medical Justice and another charity working with immigration detainees. More arrangements of this kind are much needed and very gratefully received.
