What does it mean to die by suicide in immigration detention? Perspectives from the emerging field of critical suicidology contend that social and political contexts and structural and systematic inequalities are strongly related to the seemingly individual phenomenon of suicide. Critical suicidology contributes a counter-discourse to that of suicide as a primarily private, mental illness driven issue for which the individual themselves is ultimately responsible. Building on scholars who use this critical lens to understand how ‘hate kills’, how ‘austerity kills’, and how ‘struggle kills’, this thesis aims to understand how detention ‘kills’, and what this perspective might mean for the right to life. Accordingly, this thesis utilises a novel approach – combining critical suicidology and human rights in order to contextualise and re-politicise suicidality in immigration detention centres in the UK.
Full info
ARENA Report 10/23 (pdf) (87 pages)
'Our lives are not valued' A critical suicidology perspective on the right to life in British immigration detention centres
Maisie Fitzmaurice
December 2023