As of 17 April 2020, there were 780 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 35 deaths related to the virus in Tunisia. No cases had yet been recorded among the prison population. While the President released 1,420 prisoners at the end of March, the GDP has been unable to find reports indicating that any measures to protect […]
Detention Blog
18 April 2020 – Rwanda
Refugees and migrants, relocated to Rwanda from Libya and subsequently held in Gashora Emergency Transit Centre outside Kigali, have protested against their lockdown. Rwanda has accepted several hundred persons, evacuated from Libya’s notorious detention facilities. Some have been screened and approved for relocation to countries including Canada and Norway, but the lockdown has suspended their […]
18 April 2020 – Russian Federation
On 18 April, President Putin signed a decree “On Temporary Measures to Resolve the Legal Situation of Foreign Citizens and Stateless Persons in the Russian Federation in Connection with the Threat of Further Spread of the new Coronavirus Infection Covid-19.” This new decree provides that the period from 15 March until 15 June 2020 will […]
17 April 2020 – Lithuania
Lithuania’s migration situation has been shaped by steep population decline since it joined the EU (dropping by some 15 percent since 2004), shrinking migrant population, and relatively minor asylum pressures (with roughly 400 asylum applicants a year). And yet, the country remains among the worst performers with respect to its integration policies, according to the […]
17 April 2020 – Taiwan, Province of China
In response to an information request jointly submitted by the Global Detention Project and Amnesty International Taiwan, the Ministry of the Interior reported that to date they have not begun systematically testing new immigration detainees for Covid-19. However, the agency also reported, “Before people are detained, they must be asked about their health condition, undergo […]
16 April 2020 – Ireland
The Irish Department of Justice and Equality announced that all immigration permits due to expire between 20.03.2020 and 20.05.2020 are to be automatically renewed for a period of two months. In addition, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection introduced a Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment, accessible to all workers irrespective of legal status. The […]
16 April 2020 – Malaysia
In late February, some 16,000 people attended a religious gathering at a mosque on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. Among the attendees were large numbers of undocumented Rohingya refugees. This gathering proved to be a “hotspot” for Covid-19, with significant numbers of those in attendance developing symptoms. Seeking to stem the spread of the virus, […]
16 April 2020 – Slovakia
Immigration detention in Slovakia has become an increasingly punitive measure, especially since the refugee crisis of 2015. Detention centres resemble prisons, with barred windows and uniformed policemen carrying truncheons. In cases of age disputes, unaccompanied children are considered adults during the assessment and are at risk of being detained alongside adults until bone tests prove […]
16 April 2020 – Greece
On 15 April Greece began relocating to Luxembourg unaccompanied children from camps on the islands of Lesbos, Samos, and Chios, which are severely overcrowded. There are reportedly some 5,000 unaccompanied children in Greek camps, and the country has plans “to relocate about 1,600 vulnerable children to other European countries that volunteer to host them, amid […]
15 April 2020 – Niger
Niger’s Covid-19 situation has been directly impacted by measures taken in neighbouring countries, including in particular Libya, whose push backs of migrants into Niger has forced the country to set up quarantines. As of 31 March, 34 people had tested positive for Covid-19 in Niger. The government has taken certain measures to avoid the spread […]
![Migrants receive assistance in Madama, a military outpost close to the border between Niger and Libya [Courtesy: IOM Niger]](https://globaldetentionproject.org:3000/api/gdpUploadFiles/sources/download/Madama-military-outpost-Niger-Libya.jpeg)
