In recent years, Canada has adopted both progressive refugee policies and restrictive border control measures, including agreeing to accept more refugees than other countries while at the same time adopting policies that restrict asylum eligibility.
Full Country Profile8,825
Immigration detainees
2020
138
Detained children
2020
23,900
New asylum applications
2020
101,757
Refugees
2019
7,960,657
International migrants
2019
Mexico has one of the largest immigration detention systems in the world, employing several dozen detention centres—euphemistically called "estaciones migratorias"—and detaining tens of thousands of people every year.
Full Country Profile59,155
Immigration detainees
2020
53,507
Detained children
2019
70,366
New asylum applications
2019
28,517
Refugees
2019
1,060,707
International migrants
2019
Located at the juncture between South and Central America, Colombia has become an important transit point for migrants and asylum seekers. The country opened its first detention facilities in 2013, as part of a national plan to "strengthen immigration control."
Full Country Profile2,911
Immigration detainees
2018
Not Available
Detained children
2017
10,621
New asylum applications
2019
634
Refugees
2019
1,142,319
International migrants
2019
Paraguay has not emphasised detention in its immigration policies nor has it established a formal immigration detention system. While the law provides for the detention of non-nationals for migration-related reasons—to ensure expulsion—it appears to be rarely applied.
Full Country ProfileNot Available
Immigration detainees
2019
Not Available
Detained asylum seekers
2019
Not Available
Detained children
2019
0
Long-term centres
2020
1,071
New asylum applications
2019
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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As we look back at 2020, the dramatic impact of COVID-19 on the lives of migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, and other vulnerable non-citizens across the globe appears to overshadow all else. But this Annual Report reveals that even as we sought to steady the GDP ship through this storm, we managed to make important advancements in our core objectives and outputs. […]
This submission has been prepared by the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN) and the Global Detention Project (GDP) for the third cycle Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Papua New Guinea (PNG) in November 2021. In preparing this submission, APRRN has drawn on the expertise of two of its members: Refugee Council of Australia and Caritas PNG (which works directly with refugees in PNG through the support of Catholic Bishops Conference of PNG and the Solomon Islands). […]
Since the closure of its transit zones in 2020, Hungary has implemented a new, highly restrictive asylum procedure requiring all applicants to lodge their requests at consulates in Serbia or Ukraine. In a submission to the UPR, the GDP and Hungarian Helsinki Committee draw attention to this issue, along with other concerns related to migration detention and border enforcement measures. […]
This book offers a unique comparative assessment of the evolution of immigration detention systems in European Union member states since the onset of the “refugee crisis.” By applying an analytical framework premised on international human rights law in assessing domestic detention regimes, the book reveals the extent to which EU legislation has led to the adoption of laws and practices that may disregard fundamental rights and standards. […]
In a submission to the Committee on Migrant Workers ahead of the publication of its Draft General Comment No.5, the GDP has submitted information regarding the General Comment’s treatment of the role of necessity and proportionality in immigration detention decision-making, and in particular the function of ATDs in establishing whether detention is both necessary and proportionate in all cases. […]
Earlier this month, leaks revealed that the UK government has considered plans to send asylum seekers to offshore “processing” facilities stretching from Europe to North Africa to Asia, including in Moldova, Morocco, Papua New Guinea, and even Ascension Island and St Helena. According to the Guardian, which obtained the documents, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and […]
