Italian police are targeting doctors who issue health certificates declaring migrants “unfit” for transfer to immigration detention. Observers argue that the case highlights a fundamental paradox in Italy: doctors are asked to determine whether someone is “fit” to be placed in immigration detention centres that many doctors–and a growing number of public health experts–regard as […]
Detention Blog
India: Renewed Scrutiny of Arbitrary Immigration Detention, Persistent Reports of Abuse, and Failure to Take Responsibility
Despite increasing international scrutiny of India’s immigration detention practices, recent reports reveal the dire conditions faced by detained migrants, refugees, and victims of trafficking in the country. UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Calls for Reforms The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has raised serious concerns about India’s immigration […]
Saudi Arabia’s Surging Deadly Treatment of Migrants and Refugees
In late July, Saudi Arabia executed five Ethiopian men who had fled the conflict-riddled Tigray region. The executions, the latest in a series involving foreigners, are taking place against a backdrop of systemic abuses of migrant workers and other non-citizens, including widespread use of abusive detention measures, lack of basic due process guarantees, and widely […]
United Kingdom: Expanding Detention Capacity Despite Continued Evidence of Harm
Despite decades of reports documenting concerns about the operation and impact of its detention system, the UK is currently seeking to massively expand its immigration detention capacity. A recent report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons highlights serious shortcomings in the treatment of female immigration detainees across the country. Detention Capacity Expansion Plans The UK […]
Argentina’s Evolution on Migration: From Inherent Right to Inherent Threat
Argentina, like much of South America, has historically not employed detention as an immigration enforcement tool and has recognised migration as a fundamental right. In recent years, however, the country has shifted towards a more restrictive approach. Under the populist firebrand President Javier Milei, this shift has accelerated considerably, including by amending the country’s legal framework to emphasise national security, encouraging Argentinians to report “illegal immigrants,” and issuing controversial decrees boosting the country’s detention and deportation powers. […]
Sierra Leone: Reports of Detention, But Limited Oversight or Access
Since May, Sierra Leone has received two groups of third country nationals, deported from the United States under an agreement between the two countries, adding yet another to the growing list of third country deportation schemes orchestrated by the Trump administration. While government representatives in Freetown have described deportees being “checked into their hosting facilities,” […]
The Netherlands: Pushing for the Criminalisation of Irregular Status
Despite recent setbacks in passing migration and asylum reforms, Dutch authorities are now seeking to pass standalone legislation to make irregular stay a criminal offence. The proposed measure has been widely criticised as incompatible with international human rights standards. Set against a backdrop of stricter family reunification rules, expanded return measures, a newly introduced two-tier asylum system, and persistent concerns surrounding detention conditions and regimes, the effort is part of the country’s increasingly restrictive approach to migration. […]
Equatorial Guinea: US Third Country Deportations to Another Country Accused of Widespread Corruption and Human Rights Abuses
Since late 2025, the United States has been deporting individuals, including those with existing protection orders, to Equatorial Guinea under a secretive bilateral temporary transfer agreement that is similar to others set up by the US with countries across Africa and Latin America. Reports indicate that upon arrival the deportees have been detained in a […]
Dominican Republic: Receiving Third-Country Deportations from the United States Undermines Refugee Protection
Members of the National Army guard the bridge between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, after the shared border was closed when Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise was shot dead by gunmen at his private home in Port-au-Prince, in Dajabon, Dominican Republic July 8, 2021. Photo by Ricardo Rojas/REUTERS […]
United Arab Emirates: Targeting of Shia Migrants for Deportation Amidst Iran War
A new report by Migrant Rights Research Open Repository (MRRORS), a Gulf-based civil society organisation, documents a coordinated campaign in the UAE involving the detention and deportation of Pakistani Shia migrants. Against the backdrop of the Iran war and growing securitisation across the Gulf, deportees allege they were targeted primarily on the basis of their Shia identity or suspected Iranian sympathy, and describe experiencing physical and verbal abuse in detention. […]
