Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants: Mauritania

Amid growing European pressure, Mauritania has increasingly subjected migrants to arbitrary arrest, detention, and forced expulsion—particularly in the past year. Due to limited transparency and the ad hoc nature of these practices, comprehensive data on all detention facilities remains unavailable. Nevertheless, the GDP has documented the use of multiple sites for immigration detention. […]

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The GDP Announces Changes to its Executive Committee

The Global Detention Project’s Executive Committee today announces a leadership change, with the appointment of Kirsten Sandberg as the Board’s Interim President, replacing Sahar Okhovat. The former Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Ms. Sandberg joined the GDP’s Executive Committee in 2019. She has been an unwavering source of […]

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Joint Letter on the Impact of the UN Liquidity Crisis and the UN80 Initiative on Children’s Rights

In a joint letter, more than 100 signatories–including the Global Detention Project–have urged the Permanent Missions to the United Nations in Geneva and New York and the Secretary-General of the UN to ensure that any reforms proposed in the name of efficiency do not weaken the protection and promotion of children’s rights. […]

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Mexico’s Immigration Policies and Human Rights – Global Detention Project Working Paper No. 26

In this critical examination of Mexico’s history of immigration control, authors Flynn and Ortiz-Gonzalez demonstrate the country’s use of euphemistic language to reframe coercive practices as humanitarian ones, concealing the persistence of punitive migration enforcement and masking its on-going role as a surrogate enforcer of U.S migration control.
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Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran

Since late June, Iran has expelled more than half a million Afghan refugees–coinciding with the country’s brief war with Israel. “We urge the Special Rapporteur not to overlook the plight of the millions of undocumented Afghan refugees in the country, whose plight often gets overlooked amidst the surge of conflicts, tragedies, and humanitarian crises afflicting the greater Middle East today.” […]

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From Pledges to Practice: Scaling Up Responses on Alternatives to Detention, Protection at Sea and Trafficking

On 7 July, the GDP’s Refugee Advocacy Coordinator spoke at a UNHCR-led event on the harmful impacts of immigration detention, as well as the emergence and on-going challenge of ‘alternatives to detention’ (ATDs) and how we might reframe ATDs from a harm-reduction point of view. […]

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“These Small Victories are the Lifeblood of Change”: 2024 Annual Report

Viewing the migration and refugee landscape today, it is all too easy to despair. Which is why it is so important for us to take stock of the real impacts that we have made. As this Annual Report shows, the GDP continues to make an important difference across many countries and in numerous arenas, even if it may seem at times a quixotic or improbable struggle. But these small victories are the lifeblood of change. […]

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