As the International Law Association highlights “[power] entails accountability, that is the duty to account for its exercise.” Against this background, the article focuses on the question of accountability of the European Union (EU) border agency Frontex for potential human rights violations that may occur in the course of its operations. The article aims to […]
Staff PublicationsArticles, blogs, books, chapters, op-eds, and other publications written by Global Detention Project staff members and advisers for journals, partner organisations, scholarly collaborations, or media outlets.
Articles, blogs, books, chapters, op-eds, and other publications written by Global Detention Project staff members and advisers for journals, partner organisations, scholarly collaborations, or media outlets.
There and Back Again: On the Diffusion of Immigration Detention
From Mexico to the Bahamas, Mauritania to Lebanon, Turkey to Saudi Arabia, South Africa to Indonesia, Malaysia to Thailand, immigration-related detention has become an established policy apparatus that counts on dedicated facilities and burgeoning institutional bureaucracies. Until relatively recently, however, detention appears to have been largely an ad hoc tool, employed mainly by wealthy states in exigent circumstances. This paper uses concepts from diffusion theory to detail the history of key policy events in several important immigration destination countries that led to the spreading of detention practices during the last 30 years and assesses some of the motives that appear to have encouraged this phenomenon. […]
Crimmigration in the European Union: The Case of Immigration Detention
For over a decade U.S immigration scholars and practitioners have observed a growing convergence between criminal justice and migration control systems. Regular posts at the crImmigration.com blog document the spread of this phenomenon in the U.S. This post, which builds on the author’s Global Detention Project working paper “Crimmigration” in the European Union through the […]
Does making immigration detention more humane make it more widespread?
Online debate between Michael Flynn (Global Detention Projecy) and Michelle Brané (Women’s Refugee Commission) over the strategies for countering the growth of immigration detention. Read entire debate here. […]
Whither Alternatives to Detention
Contribution to the “Border Criminologies” program at Oxford University regarding the debate over the impact of “alternatives” to immigration detention. Read post here. […]
Immigration, Human Rights, and Language
An increasing number of countries around the world are relying on immigration detention as an important tool for managing their populations of undocumented migrants and asylum seekers. This development has generated a growing backlash among rights actors, who are concerned about the negative impact detention can have on the physical and psychological wellbeing of migrants. […]
The European Union Returns Directive: Does it prevent arbitrary detention?
This article provides a critical analysis of immigration detention regime under European Union (EU) law. It assesses the relevant provisions of the EU Returns Directive and their domestic implementation in several EU states against the underlying requirement for any deprivation of liberty not to amount to arbitrary detention. Three elements embodied in this requirement are highlighted: the exceptional nature […]
Be careful what you wish for
Can the promotion of liberal norms have an unintended – and damaging – impact on how states confront the challenges of irregular immigration? Article for the Forced Migration Review. Read the full article here. […]
