Most important of all, we believe that a limit must be set on how long an individual or a family stays in a closed camp. At present, not only are the refugees kept in a prison but they do not even know how long their sentence will be.
We think that the time is now ripe to change this policy, and suggest that five years in a closed camp should be an absolute maxmium. At the end of that period, refugees who have still not been resettled should be transferred to a new, small open camp. We also suggest that a remission system be introduced, so that a refugee could be moved out of a closed camp earlier if he or she made particularly good progress in such areas as language or vocational training. This would provide the refugees with incentives to make progress.
Of course, we realise that this requires a major change in present government policy. This will take time, but smaller improvements can easily be made within the present policy.
We suggest that accommodation in closed camps be improved to give families a reasonable amount of private space, a room where they can stand up and shut the door. We also suggest that refugees be allowed to cook and eat their own food, as a supplement to central feeding. Both these requests are becoming easier to grant as the number of refugees in the closed camps declines.
We also think that, within the closed camp policy, efforts should be made to expose the refugees to wider human contact and experience. We have mentioned the possiblity of more outings, especially for the children. Would it not also be possible, for instance, for people to visit the camps to sell food, clothes, cosmetics, toys and anything else which the refugees may want?
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