Severe Detention Regimes and Paltry Conditions

Detention is a key immigration enforcement measure in Hong Kong, despite the fact that detention facilities have long been criticised for poor conditions and complaints of mistreatment.

Full Country Profile

5,549

Migration Detainees

4

Number of Detention Centres

52,506

Apprehensions of Non-Citizens

Yes

Has laws regulating migration-related detention?

Australia: Turning Arbitrary Detention into a Global Brand

Deplorable migration detention practices abound across the globe; Australia, however, brings together a range of extreme policies, provides them blanket legal cover, aggressively defends them in the face of growing international opprobrium, and spreads them to countries near and far.

Full Country Profile

5,019

Migration Detainees

32

Deportations/Forced Removals

7,685,860

International Migrants

54,430

Refugees

Trapped at the Crossroad between Europe and Asia

With one of the largest migration detention systems, Turkey has long served as Europe's reluctant refugee gatekeeper ... and sometimes strong-armed enforcer, as Afghan refugees have recently experienced.

Full Country Profile

16,108

Total Immigration Detention Capacity

30

Total Number of Detained Children

20,000

Detained Asylum Seekers

75,678

Deportations/Forced Removals

Still Waiting for Reforms as Europe Increases Pressure to Block Migrants and Asylum Seekers

Morocco prides itself for defending the rights of non-nationals, but its reputation has been tarnished as criticism has grown over its treatment of refugees and migrants. Increasing pressure from Europe to block the movement of migrants also encourages Morocco to use enforcement tactics that violate migrants’ fundamental human rights.

Full Country Profile

Yes

Has laws regulating migration-related detention?

102,358

International Migrants

8,244

Refugees

11,240

Asylum Applications

Using data and analysis to promote the human rights of migrant detainees

Every day, tens of thousands of men, women, and children are detained across the globe for reasons related to their immigration status: asylum seekers, undocumented migrants, refugees, trafficking victims, torture survivors, stateless persons, and others. The GDP relentlessly pursues information about where they are locked up and how they are treated to ensure that their human rights are respected.

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Featured Publications

News & Events

Human Rights of Migrants in Transit: The Need for Independent Monitoring

Hybrid Side Events the 57th Session of the Human Rights Council Tuesday, 8 October at 15:00-16:00, room XXV  Migrants continue to face widespread and systematic human rights violations and abuses in transit that remain inadequately monitored, documented, or addressed, feeding impunity and exacerbating the dehumanization of migrants.  The Human Right Council adopted resolution 53/24 on prevention and […]

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Submissions & Recommendations

South Africa: Submission Concerning Arbitrary Detention and Other Violations of the Human Rights of Migrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers

Human Rights Committee, 142nd Session List of Issues Prior to Reporting CONTENTS Introduction and information about the authors Background and context Issues for consideration by the Committee ahead of the adoption of the LOIPR Arbitrary and summary arrests of asylum seekers and refugees at Refugee Reception Office (‘RROs’): (Article 9,10,12) Detention of children in immigration […]

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Transparency Initiative

Lithuania’s Border Guard Provides Limited Responses to Detention Information Requests

As part of its collaboration with the Global Detention Project-sponsored Global Immigration Detention Observatory initiative, the Vilnius-based Human Rights Monitoring Institute, issued an information request to Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service concerning key statistics and practices related to the arrest and detention of migrants and asylum seekers. Although the border guard promptly responded to the […]

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Submissions & Recommendations

Ethiopia: Submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

99th Pre-Session – September 2024 Issues Related to the Arrest, Detention, Removal, Separation, and Safety of Refugee and Migrant Children (See also: Oral Submission to the Committee, 19 September 2024) This submission reviews progress on Ethiopia’s efforts to protect the human rights of child migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers since the country submitted its “Combined sixth […]

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Submissions & Recommendations

Saudi Arabia: Submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

ISSUES RELATING TO THE RIGHTS OF MIGRANT WORKERS, ARBITRARY IMMIGRATION DETENTION, AND DEPORTATION  (see also, GDP Oral Presentation at Informal Session with CEDAW) Context Detention and Deportation Legal Framework and Discriminatory Policies Migrant Domestic Workers Recommendations [1] Committee on the Elimination of  Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), “Concluding observations on the combined third and fourth periodic reports of Saudi […]

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