The issue of forced detention for children and women has been under the public spotlight of late with the Labour government claiming that deaths would occur if some children were not locked up and leaders at the COP15 reaffirming a commitment to greater protection of women worldwide.

Owers argued that the much maligned Tinsley House site was populated by increasingly terrified single women and children that obviously were poorly cared for. Implications were made that the centres mostly male population was intimidating females. Her report also highlighted the use of force to remove families as unnecessary, serving only to heighten existing tensions. Owers also claimed that educational facilities and basic childcare services have also fallen in standard.

Tinsley House can hold around 150 detainees – mostly those who have violated visa conditions or those who are awaiting deportation. The UK Border Agency employs the private security firm Group4 Security to manage the facility.

Responding to the allegations the UKBA has acknowledged that at the time of Owers’ inspection conditions at the facility were less than ideal but denied suggestions that they were wholly unacceptable. They have, however, agreed to conduct a review of their services with children and women a priority for the agency.

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Customs officials at Gatwick made the bizarre find during a search of a courier package which was intercepted at the West Sussex terminals having been originally sent from Guatemala with the Czech Republic the intended final destination. The lizards were hidden inside video cassette tapes.

According to officials from the UK Border Agency the Cope’s arboreal lizards would see dealers on the black market prepared to pay well over £1,000 each for the temperate zone reptiles. The animals are unable to be sold anywhere in the world and it is believed that they are the only ones of their kind to exist inside the United Kingdom. Officers at the animal reception centre are now looking for a new home for the scaly travellers but as yet no solution has been found.

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Now comes news that London Heathrow Airport will also adopt the new electronic border gates in 2010 with stated aims being to reduce the lengthy processing times at Heathrow’s border control.

The new gates mean that travellers aged 18 and over who possess biometric passports will be able to re-enter the UK using the facial recognition technology that compares their passport picture against a database whilst at the same time cross-referencing the -passport to any blacklists held by the UK Border Agency.

Initial reports suggested that the new gates could be seen as early as January 2010 although the Home Office has denied committing to any concrete date for now.

The gates form part of the larger Electronic Borders (e-Borders) programme that can also scan similar biometric passports from other holders across Europe and comes at an estimated cost of £1.2 billion to the UK government. The new programme will theoretically cover close to 90 percent of all UK-bound travellers according to statistics published by the Control of Immigration report from 2006.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson has hailed the new advancements which will allow speedy passage of legitimate travellers at immigration control, thereby also freeing up UKBA officers to focus more time on high risk travellers instead. The technology, Johnson claims, shows that Britain is at the very forefront of border security.

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Johnson has praised the new facial recognition technology which provides for speedier passage for legitimate travelers to the UK through immigration control, which then frees up officers from the UK Border Agency to concentrate on travelers they deem to be high risk.

The Home Secretary made the proclamation during an inspection of the new facial recognition technology gates at the Gatwick Airport North Terminal. The self service gates at the airport have played host to over 950,000 passengers who have had their biometric details scanned and compared against a list of watch criteria before being granted access to the UK, although the process itself takes mere minutes.

Facial recognition gates provide passengers with the option of choosing between joining the queues at the traditional, manned counters or accessing the self service gates. The gates work by scanning each individual’s face and comparing it with their passport’s digital photo. If the match is accurate thee-passport gates then open enabling a simple border crossing.

The gates are still attended to by officers from the UK Border Agency who monitor the traffic flow and deal with any person rejected by the gates. UKBA staff also make manual checks on all passengers where the feel it is appropriate.

The new facial recognition technology has already proved to be popular a Stansted, Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester, and Bristol Airports.

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