Thailand: Covid-19 and Detention

As of 4 May 2020, Thailand had recorded 2,987 cases of Covid-19 and 54 deaths related to the disease. Among those with the infection are immigration detainees. On 25 April, 42 detainees in the Sadoa Immigration Detention Centre tested positive. The Immigration Police Chief told the press that 73 migrant detainees (out of a total […]

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Immigration Detainees Stand Behind Bars at an Immigration Detention Centre in Bangkok, (Romeo Gacad, AFP, Getty Images,

Kenya: Covid-19 and Detention

Irregular migrants in Kenya are detained in immigration holding facilities, but also in prisons or in general police custody. The conditions in Kenya’s prisons are worrying, as migrants may face assault and sexual abuse, with limited legal assistance. The National Council for the Administration of Justice announced on 2 April the release of 4,000 prisoners […]

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Aerial View of the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya, (Thomas Mukoya, Reuters,

Burkina Faso: Covid-19 and Detention

Burkina Faso has rapidly turned into an “unprecedented humanitarian emergency” as conflicts in the Sahel region have displaced hundreds of thousands of people in the past two years, according to MSF. As the Covid-19 pandemic takes hold in the country, UNHCR has expressed alarm over “the growing insecurity in Burkina Faso, where violence is forcing […]

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A Soldier Standing Behind ICRC Provided Equipment for Prisons, (

China: Covid-19 and Detention

On 11 January 2020, Chinese state media reported the first known death from COVID-19. On 23 January, in the middle of the Lunar New Year holiday and almost overnight, China instituted an internal travel lockdown on people in Wuhan and other cities in Hubei in an effort to contain the domestic spread of the virus. […]

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A Group of Men Standing in Front of Closed Shops in Guangzhou, (D. Vincent,

Tunisia: Covid-19 and Detention

Following reports of protests and hunger strikes in El Ouardia Detention Centre by detainees demanding their release (see 18 April update), Tunisian civil society organisations have called on authorities to clarify the legal basis for detainees’ continued detention. According to the NGOs, migrants and asylum seekers continue to be arrested and detained in Tunisia, despite […]

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Tunisian civil society organisations have called on authorities to clarify the legal basis for detainees’ continued detention (FTDES, 29 April 2020).

Iran: Covid-19 and detention

On 1 May, reports emerged detailing Iranian border guards beating, torturing, and forcing a group of Afghan migrants into the Harirud River in an attempt to prevent them from entering the country from Afghanistan’s Herat Province. According to one migrant who witnessed the incident, Iranian guards “warned us that if we do not throw ourselves […]

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Many Afghan migrants in search of work cross the border to Iran from Herat province (BBC, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52523048?CMP=share_btn_me)

Maldives: Covid-19 and Detention

The Maldives has more than 100,000 migrant workers—comprising almost 25 percent of the islands’ total population. A large number of these migrants are from Bangladesh, and many are undocumented. With numbers of migrants increasing in recent years, authorities have increasingly cracked down on irregular migration, opening a new dedicated detention centre in Hulhamale (outside Malé) […]

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Migrant Workers in Their Room in the Maldives, (Transparency Maldives, “Police Place Six Expatriate Accommodation Blocks Under Surveillance,” A. Shareef, The Edition, 23 April 2020, https://edition.mv/news/16336)

Malaysia: Covid-19 and Detention

Refugees and undocumented migrant workers in Malaysia are being targeted as part of a purported anti-Covid-19 campaign, which has included mass arrests and raids across the country since the start of May. According to Al Jazeera, “There has been growing public anger in recent days over the presence of migrant foreigners, with some in Malaysia […]

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Still from video of migrant raids in Kuala Lumpur, 1 May 2020, Youtube, https://youtu.be/tGxGcPp-kfM

United States: Covid-19 and Detention

During the week of 27 April 2020, two ICE guards in a Louisiana detention centre died after contracting Covid-19. Relatives reported that they believed both men had contracted the virus while working at Richwood Correctional Centre in Monroe. In addition, reports indicate that although 45 detainees had tested positive for the virus, guards were allegedly […]

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