Thailand has ramped up the detention of Vietnamese migrants with reports indicating that Vietnamese officials have been given access to Thai detention facilities to coerce detainees to return. These practices, alongside high-profile cases of extradition and arbitrary detention of asylum seekers, reveal persistent breaches of human rights norms despite the fact that Thailand remains a UN Network on Migration “champion country” for implementation of the Global Compact for Migration. […]
Detention Blog
Australia: UN Experts Raise Serious Concerns Regarding Country’s Migrant Detention System
In December, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention delivered a sobering assessment of Australia’s immigration detention system, highlighting numerous policies that call into question the country’s adherence to international human rights obligations. […]
Israel: UN Torture Committee Highlights Harmful Treatment of Detained Migrants and Refugees
The UN Committee against Torture (CAT) has echoed concerns raised by the Global Detention Project and our partner in Israel, the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants (HRM), regarding the country’s detention of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. While the CAT review was dominated by human rights violations in Gaza and the West Bank, the Committee highlighted poor conditions in immigration detention facilities, as well as worrying legislative developments that place non-nationals at risk of both indefinite detention and refoulement. […]
Uzbekistan: Cooperation with EU and US Raises Questions about Human Rights Obligations
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. […]
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. […]
