Newsletter

LATEST PUBLICATIONS Immigration Detention in Hungary: Transit Zone or Twilight Zone? Hungary’s efforts to block asylum seekers were at the centre of an important May 2020 European Union Court of Justice ruling concerning its “transit zone” detention sites, located along the border with Serbia. For years, Hungary refused to acknowledge that people were “detained” in […]

LATEST PUBLICATIONS Immigration Detention in Spain: A Rapid Response to Covid-19  On 6 May 2020, Spain reported that for the first time in its history, its immigration detention facilities, “Foreign Internment Centres,” were empty. These centres had long been the target of activists, local politicians, and human rights bodies, who argued that they were unnecessary and […]

THE COVID-19 GLOBAL IMMIGRATION DETENTION PLATFORM As the coronavirus pandemic changes the lives of societies around the world, countries are being forced to alter their detention and deportation decisions. Many countries have already begun releasing detainees because of their inability to deport them. Others have been forced to close detention centres because of the spread […]

OUR LATEST PUBLICATIONS Immigration Detention in the Republic of Korea: Penalising People in Need of Protection Over the last two decades, South Korea has implemented increasingly restrictive asylum and migrant worker policies. The government does not provide adequate data about detention, making it challenging to assess trends in the country, but observers report that this […]

OUR LATEST PUBLICATIONS Immigration Detention in Austria: Where the Refugee “Crisis” Never Ends Austria’s domestic politics have been heavily influenced by a divisive debate over the treatment of migrants and refugees. This has had an important impact on the country’s immigration detention practices. Despite years of declining detainee numbers prior to the onset of Europe’s […]

OUR LATEST PUBLICATIONS Physical Fences and Digital Divides: Final Report of the Global Detention Project Special Investigation into the Uses of Electronic Media in Today’s Migration Journeys Smartphones, social media platforms, and other tech tools are today “migrant essentials” that can assist people in making life-saving decisions and bring public attention to abuses that migrants and […]

Today marks 30 years since the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The adoption of the convention marked a critical milestone in global efforts to ensure that the human rights of children are respected, including the rights of migrant and refugee children deprived of their liberty. At the heart […]

OUR LATEST PUBLICATIONS Immigration Detention in Cyprus: Reception Challenges in Europe’s New Gateway Although the Republic of Cyprus is one of only a small number of EU member states that have yet to join the Schengen visa-free zone, the country is quickly becoming an important gateway for migrants and refugees as other routes into the EU […]

OUR LATEST PUBLICATIONS Immigration Detention in Portugal: Resettling Refugees, Detaining Asylum Seekers Unlike most EU states, Portugal has welcomed the arrival of refugees—even after the onset of the “refugee crisis” in 2015—and has announced ambitious resettlement schemes. On the other hand, Portugal’s detention policies have been the subject of repeated criticism. Asylum seekers lodging applications at […]

In the last two months, the number of suicide attempts on Manus Island—home to Australia’s notorious offshore migrant facility where more than 800 refugees and asylum seekers are stranded after spending years in detention—has skyrocketed. According to @Shamindan, an asylum seeker documenting life inside the facility, there have been some 90 suicide attempts and self-harm incidents […]

✅Shrinking space for independent monitoring in Croatia
✅Bulgaria’s reliance upon detention
✅The year in review – the GDP Annual Report
✅ Objective 21 of the Global Compact for Migration

Last summer, people across the globe expressed outrage as U.S. immigration officials forcibly separated children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. Overlooked in much of the criticism was the fact that children are detained for immigration reasons in dozens of countries across the globe, all of which—with the notable exception of the United States—have […]

✅ Immigration detention in Niger, and the EU’s involvement in migration management within the country
✅ A look at how immigration detention is addressed in human rights law
✅ GDP on the record

Last week, reports emerged concerning a 24-year-old Honduran woman’s premature labour and subsequent delivery of a stillborn baby while in custody at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centre in Texas. While officials were quick to offer the awkward qualification that “for investigative and reporting purposes, a stillbirth is not considered an in-custody death,” the incident nevertheless added fuel to the growing criticism of the Trump administration’s treatment of vulnerable individuals in detention.

✅ Detention conditions in #Slovakia
✅ The rise in detention of asylum seekers at the #EU’s external borders
✅ Putting the “Global Compacts” to Work

✅ Detention conditions in Slovakia
✅ The rise in detention of asylum seekers at the EU’s external borders
✅ GDP on the record

✅ Immigration detention in the Czech Republic
✅ Examining the Global Compact for Migration, immigration detention, and the IOM
✅ GDP on the record

✅ Harm Reduction in Immigration Detention
✅ Detention of migrants in Qatar
✅ GCM’s Objective 21: Returns, Readmissions, and Reintegration
✅ Social Media, Human Rights, and Migration

This past summer, people across the globe watched in outrage as children were forcibly separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border and placed in hastily set up camps and cages. Overlooked in much of the criticism, however, was the fact that children are locked behind bars for immigration-related reasons in dozens of other counties across the globe, all of whom—with the notable exception of the United States—have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

✅ Changes to France’s Immigration Detention Laws
✅ Systematic Family Detention in Poland
✅ Social Media Use in North Africa and the Mediterranean
✅ Detention of Minors in Luxembourg

✅ Human Rights Abuses in Egypt’s Detention Centres
✅ A Regional View of Detention in Scandinavia
✅ GDP On The Record

Welcome to the Global Detention Project’s monthly newsletter. For any questions about our content, please contact us at: admin@globaldetentionproject.org OUR LATEST PUBLICATIONS   Immigration Detention in Sweden: Increasing Restrictions and Deportations, Growing Civil Society Resistance Sweden used to be lauded for its comparatively humane treatment of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants. However, since the onset of the […]

DETAINED ON WORLD REFUGEE DAY   Over the past six weeks, the Trump administration has forcibly taken approximately 2,000 children away from their parents at the U.S-Mexico border. Condemned by the UN as well as by politicians on all sides of the political spectrum, this “zero tolerance” policy has seen children as young as 18 […]

Welcome to the Global Detention Project’s May 2018 newsletter. For any questions about our content, please contact us at: admin@globaldetentionproject.org  OUR LATEST PUBLICATIONS   Immigration Detention in Denmark: Where Officials Cheer the Deprivation of Liberty of “Rejected Asylum Seekers” Denmark has pursued increasingly restrictive immigration and asylum policies. During the past three years, the country has adopted […]

  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 […]

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 […]

Welcome to the Global Detention Project’s February 2018 Newsletter. For any questions about our content, please contact us at: admin@globaldetentionproject.org   OUR LATEST PUBLICATIONS   Immigration Detention in Lebanon: Deprivation of Liberty at the Borders of Global Conflict Faced with extremely complex regional mobility dynamics and buffeted by the competing strategic goals of numerous global […]

GLOBAL DETENTION PROJECT NEWSLETTER October 2017 New Publications News & Activities GDP on the Record   NEW PUBLICATIONS Immigration Detention in Germany Germany’s immigration detention system has undergone major changes since a 2014 ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union condemning the country’s use of prisons for immigration purposes. Since then, the […]

GLOBAL DETENTION PROJECT NEWSLETTER September 2017 New Publications New Book News & Activities GDP on the Record Job Announcement   NEW FROM THE GDP Global Compact on Migration The GDP submitted comments to the UN Special Representative for International Migration as part of the preparatory phase for the Secretary-General’s report on the Global Compact for […]

GLOBAL DETENTION PROJECT NEWSLETTER August 2017   NEW FROM THE GDP Immigration Detention in Malta Malta is the most densely populated country in the European Union and has one of the highest concentrations of refugees in the world. Although at one time it served as a key destination for migrants and asylum seekers crossing the […]

GLOBAL DETENTION PROJECT NEWSLETTER JULY 2017   NEW FROM THE GDP  Global Detention Project Annual Report 2016 Available here. Joint Submission with Migrant-rights.org to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women: United Arab Emirates. Read the submission here.   PUBLICATIONS AND EVENTS Kidnapped, Trafficked, Detained? The Implications of Non-state Actor Involvement in Immigration […]

Global Detention Project Newsletter June 2017   NEW FROM THE GDP Immigration detention in Macedonia The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) has been an important transit country along the Balkan migration route, which has made it a critical country to European migration policy and debate. Read the report here. Submission to the UN Committee […]

Global Detention Project Newsletter MAY 2017   NEW FROM THE GDP  Austria Immigration Detention Profile Austria has sharply increased the number of people it places in immigration detention after years of declining detainee populations. While it continues the controversial practice of placing immigration detainees in “Police Detention Centres,” the country opened a new dedicated immigration detention […]

Global Detention Project Newsletter March 2017   NEW FROM THE GDP  Immigration Detention, the Right to Liberty, and Constitutional Law: GDP Working Paper No. 22 By Dan Wilsher The right to personal liberty is one of the oldest recognized rights in liberal democracies, which raises fundamental constitutional questions about the use of detention as an […]

Global Detention Project Newsletter February 2017   NEW FROM THE GDP  When Is Immigration Detention Lawful? The Monitoring Practices of UN Human Rights Mechanisms  By Mariette Grange and Izabella Majcher This Global Detention Project Working Paper details the normative framework governing immigration detention established in core international treaties and discusses how human rights bodies apply this […]

Global Detention Project Newsletter January 2017   NEW GDP WORKING PAPER  Reforming Family Detention in the United States By Dora Schriro The prospect of ending the detention of immigrant families in the US appears more remote than ever as the Trump administration begins implementing its restrictive immigration agenda. This paper, authored by the former director of […]

Global Detention Project Newsletter December 2016   PRESS RELEASE FOR INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS DAY–SUNDAY 18 DECEMBER “Children and families should never be in immigration detention – UN Experts” Read Here   NEW DETENTION PROFILE Lithuania Lithuania operates one immigration detention centre, the Foreigners Registration Centre, where several hundred people are confined annually. Despite recently expanding the […]

Global Detention Project Newsletter November 2016   NEW DETENTION PROFILES Netherlands Although detention numbers have fallen steeply in the Netherlands, they have surged in the Kingdom’s Caribbean islands as Venezuelans flee their country’s failing economy. Spain While “pushbacks” at Spain’s borders in Africa are on the rise, the country’s immigration detention numbers are plummeting and […]

Global Detention Project Newsletter September 2016 NEW DETENTION PROFILES: A Focus on the Visegrad Originally created in 1991 to assist European integration and to support mutual security and socio-economic goals, the Visegrad Group is an alliance of four Central European EU member states, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. Today, they are among Europe’s […]

New GDP Submissions, Working Papers, and Events

Global Detention Project Newsletter June 2016 NEW COUNTRY PROFILES New Zealand New Zealand has adopted stringent laws providing for immigration detention, including the detention of asylum seekers and children in cases of “mass” boat arrivals. The country has also lauded Australia’s offshore detention practices, saying they could help deter asylum seekers. Angola Angola has vigorously […]

GLOBAL DETENTION PROJECT NEWSLETTER MAY 2016 ANNUAL REPORT In December 2015, the Global Detention Project completed its first fiscal year as an independent non-profit association after operating for nearly eight years as an academic project based at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. This Annual Report details the origins and evolution of the GDP […]

GLOBAL DETENTION PROJECT NEWSLETTER APRIL 2016  ANNOUNCEMENT On Friday 27 May, the Global Detention Project will give a presentation of its new website and online database. The event will take place in the conference room at 1 rue Varembé, Geneva, at 12:30. If you would like to attend, please RSVP at admin@globaldetentionproject.org. NEW DETENTION PROFILES Denmark […]

GLOBAL DETENTION PROJECT NEWSLETTER MARCH 2016 NEW DETENTION PROFILES Sweden For many years, Sweden was lauded for its comparatively humane treatment of undocumented migrants and asylum seekers. However, reflecting a wave of get-tough policies announced by other European countries in the wake of the Syrian refugee crisis, in early 2016 Sweden announced that it was introducing […]

GLOBAL DETENTION PROJECT NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2016  NEW DETENTION PROFILE Guatemala Situated at the axis between North and South America and wracked by poverty and conflict, Guatemala is both an important source of migrants and asylum seekers as well as a major transit country. Mexico and the United States have long pressured the country to halt the […]

NEW GDP PUBLICATIONS   IMMIGRATION DETENTION IN THE GULF: Global Detention Project Special Report Labour migrants are a backbone of the economies of all the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council–Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. While much has been reported on the abuses these workers often suffer, very little is known […]

Global Detention Project Newsletter June 2015 NEW GDP PUBLICATIONS Children in Immigration Detention: Challenges of Measurement and Definition Global Detention Project Discussion Paper The campaign to end the detention of children, including child migrants and asylum seekers, has generated impressive global momentum. However, there remain important gaps in this effort, including the absence of an […]

Global Detention Project Newsletter May 2015 NEW GDP DETENTION REPORT ECUADOR Ecuador has been widely lauded for adopting the principle of “universal citizenship” in its 2008 Constitution. However, in recent years, the country seems to have backtracked with respect to its reception of migrants and asylum seekers. Although it is one of the most important […]

Global Detention Project Newsletter March 2015 NEW GDP DETENTION REPORT JORDAN In late 2014, a court in Amman ruled that an Egyptian guest worker whose permit had been terminated by his employer was wrongfully placed in immigration detention and must be compensated for financial and psychological damages. The historic ruling was described by one observer […]

Global Detention Project Newsletter February 2015 NEW GDP DETENTION REPORT Libya With Libya experiencing large-scale internal displacement as the country becomes increasingly engulfed in civil war, migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees are finding themselves systematically exposed to arbitrary and indefinite detention. Concerns highlighted by observers include the increasing absence of oversight at detention facilities as […]

Global Detention Project Newsletter January 2015 NEW GDP DETENTION PROFILE Austria In early 2014, Austria opened its first specialized immigration detention facility. The development comes after more than two decades of criticism from national and international observers, who have pressed the country not to detain migrants and asylum seekers in prisons and other criminal facilities. […]

October 2014 PRESS RELEASE The Global Detention Project announces that it has re-launched as an independent non-profit research centre after being based for eight years at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. Read the press release here. NEW GDP COUNTRY PROFILES Germany Germany’s immigration detention policies contrast sharply with those of its EU […]

Global Detention Project Newsletter July 2014 NEW GDP COUNTRY PROFILES Lebanon The war in Syria has put Lebanon’s treatment of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants in sharp relief. Three years into the conflict, Lebanon has gained the distinction of having the highest per-capita concentration of refugees recorded anywhere in the world in recent history, this […]

Global Detention Project Newsletter March 2014 NEW COUNTRY PROFILES Greece Greece has been ground zero in Europe’s efforts to halt irregular migration for several years. At the same time, the country’s economic crisis has exasperated social divisions leading to increasing violence and hostility directed at foreigners. With massive financial and operational assistance provided by the […]

Global Detention Project Newsletter February 2014 NEW COUNTRY PROFILES New Zealand Often regarded as exemplary in its treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, New Zealand has significantly hardened its immigration rhetoric and laws in recent years, even as migratory pressures in the country have diminished. Following the example of Canada and its neighbour Australia, New […]

Global Detention Project Newsletter January 2014 NEW GDP COUNTRY PROFILES Malta Officials in Malta have argued that unauthorized migration to the country has reached an “emergency scale” and that there is a “national crisis” with respect to administrative detention. When Maltese officials refer to this “crisis,” they argue that Malta represents an exceptional case due […]

Global Detention Project Newsletter September 2013 NEW GDP WORKING PAPERS Countries across the globe appear to be increasingly relying on detention to control their borders and immigrant populations. On the eve of the UN General Assembly’s second High-Level Dialogue on Migration and Development , the Global Detention Project (GDP) is issuing a new set of […]

GDP Newsletter – March 2013 NEW PUBLICATIONS Spain Detention Profile As a key EU border country, Spain has played an important role confronting migratory flows into the region. It has worked with Frontex to interdict smuggling vessels off the coast of West Africa, collaborated with Morocco to shore up border controls, and paid for a […]

Global Detention Project Newsletter January 2013 New Publications Mexico Detention Profile Mexico’s dual roles as a source and transit country for migrants traveling to North America have helped conspire to make it one of the most active detaining countries in the world. With a long-term detention capacity of more than 3,500, the country’s immigration detention […]

Global Detention Project Newsletter December 2012 New Publications Italy Detention Profile No other country in Europe was impacted as dramatically by the “Arab Spring” as Italy, which saw tens of thousands of North African migrants arrive at its shores. The country’s response to the situation–which included claiming a state of emergency, “pushing back” migrants interdicted at sea, […]

Global Detention Project Newsletter July 2012 NEW PUBLICATIONS Who Must Be Detained? Proportionality as a Tool for Critiquing Immigration Detention Policy By Michael Flynn In July 2012, Refugee Survey Quarterly released an advanced-access online version of this forthcoming article by the GDP’s coordinator. The article endeavours to use the legal principle of proportionality as a […]

Global Detention Project Newsletter March 2012 NEW PUBLICATIONS Discussion Paper: “On the Unintended Consequences of Human Rights Promotion on Immigration Detention“ This GDP discussion paper was prepared for the upcoming public roundtable organized by the Soros Foundation in New York City titled “Holding Patterns: Can Advocacy Efforts to Reform Migration Detention Inadvertently Lead to the […]

Profiles on Egypt and Morocco

Profiles on Israel and Tunisia. Working paper No. 4 Immigration Detention and Proportionality. Call for papers. New Detention Advocacy Group. New Report from the International Detention Coalition

Profiles on Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, and Belize. Workshop on Detention at the Borders of Europe. Coding State Adherence to Norms

Profiles on Lebanon, Bulgaria, Latvia, and Lithuania. Expert Group Meeting on the International Framework for Action to Implement the Migrant Smuggling Protocol. Podcast “Immigration Detention and the Aesthetics of Incarceration”

Profiles on Romania, Slovenia, Hungary, and Luxembourg. Upcoming event Extraterritoriality: The Juridical, Spatial, and Political Condition of Refugee Camps and Other Extraterritorial Spaces. Oxford Immigration Detention Workshop. Public Interest and Social Justice Law Board grant to undertake internship. Presentation at the University of Texas.

Profiles on Turkey, Estonia, and Denmark

Profiles on Mauritania, Ireland, and Belgium. Presentation “The Politics of Privatised Immigration Detention”

Profiles on Malta, Sweden, and Netherlands

Working paper “Migration and Detention: Mapping the International Legal Terrain”. Profiles on Libya, Ukraine, and Greece.

Working paper “The Privatization of Immigration Detention: Towards a Global View”. Profiles on Bahrain, Finland, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Senegal, and Slovakia. Presentation at Texas Southern University.

Profiles on Hong Kong, Malaysia, and South Korea. Public event on the GDP’s new website. Coop Radio (Canada) interviews Michael Flynn. Lac Leviathan’s article con GDP.

Profiles on France, United Kingdom, and South Africa. New resource web pages. Presentation at UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. GDP’s website promotion.