Under renewed pressure from the EU to prevent migrants from reaching the Canary Islands, in recent months Mauritanian authorities have arbitrarily arrested, detained, and expelled thousands of migrants. The West African state has come under repeated scrutiny in recent years for its detention and deportation practices, but the scale of the recent crackdown has attracted […]
Detention Blog
Greece: Growing Pressure to End Pushbacks and Prevent Abuses in Migrant Detention Sites
Greek authorities continue to conduct illegal pushbacks at the country’s land and sea borders, according to a recent report from the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights. Noting ongoing allegations of systematic summary returns, despite the European Court of Human Rights’ condemnation of the practice in January this year, the Commissioner urges Greek authorities to “adopt a zero-tolerance approach” to summary returns and to ensure impartial investigations of allegations. […]
Libya: The Latest Target of the Rapidly Growing U.S. Deportation Scheme
This week, Reuters reported that the Trump administration plans to deport migrants to Libya–a country long criticised by the U.S and the wider international community for its abusive treatment of migrants and asylum seekers. Just in February, investigators uncovered two mass graves in the southeast of the country containing the bodies of dozens of migrants, some bearing evidence of gunshot wounds. […]
Yemen: US Airstrike Kills Dozens of Migrants at Detention Centre
In the early hours of Monday 28 April, a US airstrike is reported to have struck a detention facility in Yemen’s northern Sa’ada Governorate, killing dozens of migrants confined in the building. This is not the first time that a detention centre holding migrants has been struck in Yemen: another facility within the same compound was struck in 2022 leaving more than 90 dead. […]
Guest Opinion: “Cruelty Is Not My Flag: Contesting Arbitrary Detention and Deportations from the Dominican Republic”
In its latest efforts to remove Haitian migrants, authorities in the Dominican Republic have introduced a slate of new immigration control measures–amongst them a new protocol requiring the presence of immigration officers in hospital maternity wards and for women without paperwork to be deported immediately. This latest cruel and misogynistic policy further deepens migrant women’s vulnerabilities, increasing the obstacles they face in accessing vital public health services. […]
Russia: Weaponising Immigration Policies to Push Migrants into War and Launching a New “Expulsion Regime”
Russia is ramping up immigration enforcement to pressure migrants to join the frontline in Ukraine and increase deportations of people from various Asian countries. As part of the Kremlin’s efforts to bolster military strength, foreigners continue to be coerced into fighting in Ukraine–with many being threatened with deportation should they refuse to fight. And since […]
United States and El Salvador: A Scheme to Deport Migrants from the US to a “Human Rights Black Hole”
On 7 April, the US Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration could continue deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador’s “supermax” CECOT prison, referred to by observers as a “human rights black hole.” In March, more than 260 people were deported and placed in the facility under the US’s controversial agreement with El […]
Jamaica: Oral Presentation to the UN Committee on Migrant Workers
“In our monitoring of the country, we have documented various concerning reports of arbitrary detention of migrants and asylum seekers in deplorable conditions, including in prisons.” […]
Niger: Oral Presentation to the UN Committee on Migrant Workers
In its response to the CMW’s List of Issues, Niger fails to adequately address several issues concerning Articles 16-22, while also confirming practices which specifically violate the Convention. […]
Mexico: Oral Presentation to the UN Committee on Migrant Workers
Mexico has used immigration detention measures on a scale that may be unique in the world, placing hundreds of thousands of at-risk people in often deplorable facilities. […]
