Uzbekistan’s immigration laws and practices have received little international attention. However, new arrangements with both the European Union and the United States are raising questions about the country’s commitments to its human rights obligations. […]
Detention Blog
Externalisation: ACHPR Calls on African States to Protect Migrants Amid Rising Deals
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) has issued a new resolution cautioning against the externalisation of migration governance and urging African States to safeguard the rights and dignity of migrants deported from non-African countries. Adopted amidst a surge in bilateral agreements between African governments and external partners–in particular the United States and the European Union–the resolution echoes similar warnings from other international monitoring bodies and underscores the serious risks associated with externalised migration enforcement schemes. […]
Kosovo, Emerging Partner in Efforts to Outsource Migration Control
In October, reports revealed that Kosovo was in discussion with the UK to receive rejected asylum seekers as part of the UK government’s efforts to set up “return hubs” abroad–a move observers have condemned as punitive and potentially threatening migrants’ rights. Both the United States and Denmark have also made deals with the country in recent years, part of a broader and increasingly concerning trend of externalising migration controls, including detention, to third countries. […]
France: UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Finds Country Responsible for Grave and Systematic Violations of the Rights of Unaccompanied Migrant Children
An investigation undertaken by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has concluded that France is committing “grave and systematic violations” of the rights of unaccompanied migrant children. In particular, it notes that flawed age assessment procedures are resulting in children being left homeless on the streets where they are exposed to violence and abuse, and that the detention of unaccompanied minors at Paris Charles de Gaulle is “disproportionate and therefore arbitrary.” […]
Ghana: Detention and Secret Expulsions Raise Alarm Over Role in U.S Deportation Scheme
In September, Reuters reported that Ghana had agreed to accept West African nationals deported from the United States under a new agreement between the two countries–marking yet another expansion of the Trump Administration’s unprecedented efforts to summarily deport irregular migrants to third countries. Shortly after their arrival in Ghana, the deportees were reportedly expelled to Togo. Ghana was previously accused, in 2023, of unlawfully expelling refugees from Burkina Faso, undermining Ghana’s commitment to international legal standards. […]
Belarus: Using the Separation of Mothers from Their Children as a Migration Enforcement Strategy
On 7 August, Belarusian authorities expelled a young Guinean mother while her young baby remained in Belarus. Reportedly, the mother was removed without due process–including the ability to challenge her separation from her child. UN experts have condemned the incident, which reflects a broader pattern in Belarus of using parental separation from children for both immigration and political reasons. […]
UN Special Rapporteur Calls on Mauritania to End Abuses Against Migrants and Refugees
Following his visit to Mauritania between 2 – 12 September, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants has released his preliminary findings and recommendations concerning the country’s treatment of non-nationals. In advance of the mission, the Global Detention Project provided the Special Rapporteur with a detailed briefing documenting persistent violations of migrants’ and refugees’ rights, including arbitrary arrest and detention, inhumane detention conditions, and collective expulsions. Many of these concerns were echoed in his initial observations. […]
Sri Lanka: Detainees Decry Poor Conditions and Indefinite Detention in Welisara Detention Centre
In recent weeks, the Global Detention Project has received several testimonies from a group of people held in immigration detention in Sri Lanka, depicting troubling detention conditions and instances of indefinite immigration detention. The accounts of their treatment at the Welisara Detention Centre reflect wider concerns about the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers in the country, including the arbitrary detention of children and asylum seekers. […]
Lawyers for Human Rights (South Africa): “Numbers We Don’t See And Why They Matter”
“In migration management, numbers are not just statistics; they shape public perception, drive political narratives, and influence government spending. When accurate, they can foster a nuanced understanding of migration and guide evidence-based, humane policy. When inflated or incomplete, they fuel fear. In South Africa, we have a numbers problem: not just in how they are used, but in how they are hidden. ” […]
Suspensions to Asylum Applications and Extending Detention: Greece’s Increasingly Hardline Approach to Migration
Since early 2025, Crete and the nearby island of Gavdos have seen a sharp increase in the number of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants arriving from Libya. The islands have quickly become the newest frontline to Greece’s increasingly hardline approach to migration: in July, the government suspended all asylum claims for anyone arriving irregularly from North Africa for a three-month period. At the same time, a new legislative proposal is being considered which would tighten migration rules in line with the new, but not yet adopted, EU Return Regulation. This would introduce a slate of amendments, including the introduction of broader grounds for detention and an extension of the maximum length of detention. […]
