5,019
Migration Detainee Entries
32
Deportations/Forced Removals
1,002
Voluntary Returns & Forced Removals
7,685,860
International Migrants
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.
15,908
Total Immigration Detention Capacity
75,678
Deportations/Forced Removals
30
Detention Centres
122,302
Apprehensions of Non-Citizens
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 Profile37,800,000
Population
102,358
International Migrants
7,907
Refugees
10,159
Asylum Applications
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.
Full Country Profile11,787
Deportations/Forced Removals
52
Voluntary Returns & Forced Removals
1
Detention Centres
13,352
Apprehensions of Non-Citizens
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.
Learn more
In May, the Global Detention Project (GDP) assisted an official delegation from Norway’s Ministry of Justice in visiting the Frambois Detention Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The delegation was comprised of members of the Norwegian Supervisory Board for Forced Deportations and Immigration Detention, which monitors operations at the Trandum immigration detention centre, located near Oslo. The […]
Malaysia’s immigration enforcement regime—including detention, forced removals, criminal prosecution, and corporal punishment—is one of the world’s more punitive, arbitrary, and harmful systems. In a submission to the UPR, the GDP and APRRN highlight areas of particular concern. […]
Tunisia has come under renewed criticism from rights groups after authorities rounded up sub-Saharan migrants and asylum seekers and forcefully relocated them to a buffer zone between the Tunisian and Libyan border. Videos shared online show men, women, and children–some with injuries–stranded close to the sea, reportedly without any food or water. Surging Discrimination According […]
In a communication to Chile, a group of UN experts have condemned proposed reforms to the country’s migration and asylum legislation. If approved, the reforms would provide criminal penalties for irregular entry and stay, including prison sentences and fines, and increase administrative detention measures for people awaiting deportation. The effort also reflects policy proposals in […]
Policy-makers, scholars, and advocates often obsess over detention numbers: How many people were detained last year? How many more people are being detained now? How many are detained in a given detention centre? But there is another statistic that receives much less attention: how many people die in immigration detention? […]
In an effort to reach recruitment targets for its war in Ukraine, Russia has been attempting to coerce or force foreign migrants to fight. Authorities and private military companies have attempted to enlist foreigners in migration offices, workplaces, prisons, worker dormitories, and mosques. According to several reports, immigration detainees have also been targeted for enlistment. […]
