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.

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5,019

Immigration detainees

2019

145

Detained children

2017

25,500,000

Population

2020

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.

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Not Available

Immigration detainees

2020

Not Available

Detained children

2020

31,334

New asylum applications

2020

84,300,000

Population

2020

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

Morocco has long prided itself for defending the rights of non-nationals. However, this reputation has repeatedly been tarnished as criticism has grown over its treatment of asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants. In particular, increasing pressure from Europe to block the movement of migrants and asylum seekers is encouraging the use of enforcement tactics that violate migrants’ fundamental human rights.

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Not Available

Immigration detainees

2020

Not Available

Detained asylum seekers

2020

No Data

Detained children

36,900,000

Population

2020

Stricter Control of Administrative Detention, Increasing Criminal Enforcement of Migration

South Africa has increasingly viewed cross border movements through the lens of national security and criminality. According to observers, the country's Border Management Act, adopted in 2020, reflects this embrace of a securitisation agenda.

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0

Immigration detainees

Not Available

Detained children

2017

3,074

New asylum applications

2020

78,395

Refugees

2020

2,860,495

International migrants

2020

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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Map of the Detention centres

Featured Publications

News & Activities

GDP Webinar: The Many Tools of OPCAT for Preventing Harmful Migration-Related Detention

The third instalment of the GDP’s webinar series on how civil society organisations can mobilise international and regional human rights monitors to protect the rights of detained refugees and migrants focuses on the various mechanisms established by the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT) that can help prevent human rights violations in migration-related detention, including the Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture (SPT) and National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs). […]

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Submissions & Recommendations

BOTSWANA: Submission to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

Botswana has both administrative migration-related detention measures, including for the detention of refugees, as well as criminal penalties that can include lengthy imprisonment for migration offenses. These measures violate norms promoted by the Working Group, which says that migration infractions must not be subject to criminal penalties and there should be a prohibition on the detention of refugees, asylum seekers, and children. […]

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Annual Reports

Global Detention Project Annual Report – Global Tools, Local Impact

Just as the COVID-19 pandemic revealed important lessons about the harm caused by migration-related detention, so too has Russia’s war on Ukraine revealed Europe’s selective humanitarianism. We have sought to engage these challenges proactively, effectively, and in partnership with allies and advocates at all levels, from local advocacy groups to networks spread across the international community. A common thread that ties our work together over the past year is our effort to ensure that global tools have local impact. […]

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