In February 2017, the European Commission (EC) adopted a specific Recommendation to guide EU states in the interpretation of the Returns Directive, stressing that detention can be essential in enhancing the effectiveness of the return system. However, despite its administrative label, pre-removal detention as interpreted by the EC contains punitive elements. GDP Researcher Izabella Majcher […]
Publications & Events
Ad-Hoc Submission to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture: France
France has one of Europe’s oldest and most widespread immigration detention systems, and within the Council of Europe, it detains the largest number of non-citizens—in 2016, it placed a record 46,000 foreigners in detention. However, during the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture’s (CPT) last visit to France in 2015, members did not visit […]
April 2018 Newsletter
Welcome to the Global Detention Project’s April Newsletter. For any questions about our content, please contact us at: admin@globaldetentionproject.org OUR LATEST PUBLICATIONS Immigration Detention in Luxembourg: Systematic Deprivation of Liberty Although Luxembourg has a very small immigration detention system, the number of detainees has risen in recent years. Since opening a dedicated detention […]
Critiquing Zones of Exception: Actor-Oriented Approaches Explaining the Rise of Immigration Detention
Immigration policy has catapulted to the forefront of public debate around the world as governments resort to increasingly restrictive measures to block migrants and refugees. While severe border policies are by no means new, this surge in migration control raises questions about the forces driving national policies. This chapter in the new book Immigration Policy in the Age of Punishment advances an actor-oriented analysis that views detention systems as complex organisations that rely on deeply rooted institutional structures to buttress their existence, multiple sources of financing to grow operations, and support from a broad array of social actors. […]
Immigration Detention in Luxembourg: Systematic Deprivation of Liberty
Immigration Detention in Luxembourg: Although Luxembourg has a very small immigration detention system, the number of detainees has risen in recent years. Since opening a dedicated detention facility in 2011, observers have noted a general improvement in material conditions. On the other hand, detention appears to be systematically applied as officials regularly conclude that apprehended migrants […]
Thinking Beyond Detention
The GDP’s Michael Flynn participated in the University of Oxford’s Border Criminologies 5th birthday conference—“Beyond Critique”—on 19/20 April 2018. With support from the Bonavero Human Rights Institute at the University of Oxford and the Migration Policy Centre at the European University Institute, the two-day conference brought together an international group of artists, scholars, policy-makers, practitioners, […]
Joint Submission to the Universal Periodic Review: Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia Joint Submission to the Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council 31st session, November 2018 The Global Detention Project (GDP) is a non-profit research centre based in Geneva, Switzerland, that investigates the use of detention in response to global migration. The GDP’s aims include: (1) providing researchers, advocates, and journalists with a […]
The EU Hotspot Approach: Hotspots and Plethora of Freedom-Restricting Measures
This themed blog series organized by GDP Researcher Izabella Majcher for the Oxford University-based Border Criminologies examines the EU hotspot approach from the perspective of the right to liberty and freedom of movement, highlighting the unclear division of roles and responsibilities between EU agencies and host member states, the blurred line between detention and reception, substandard material conditions, a lack of transparency, and differential treatment based on nationality, among a host of other concerns. […]
Submission to the Universal Periodic Review: Malaysia
Malaysia Submission to the Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council 31st session, November 2018 The Global Detention Project (GDP) is an independent research centre based in Geneva that investigates the use of detention as a response to international migration. Its objectives are to improve transparency in the treatment of detainees, to encourage […]
March 2018 Newsletter
Welcome to the Global Detention Project’s March 2018 newsletter. For any questions about our content, please contact us at: admin@globaldetentionproject.org OUR LATEST PUBLICATIONS Immigration Detention in Ireland: Will Better Detention Mean More Detention? The number of individuals placed in immigration detention in Ireland is relatively low. However, as the GDP’s latest country profile […]
