Recommendation Year
Observation Date
Committee on Migrant Workers
44. The Committee recommends the State party: (a) Adopt measures, including legislative measures, to phase out, and ultimately put an end to, immigration detention; and enact a presumption in law against detention and therefore in favour of freedom; (b) Immediately cease migration detention of children, whether unaccompanied, separated from their parents, or together with their families, and of other vulnerable groups of migrant workers and members of their families as well as asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons; c) Ensure that: (i) In all other cases, the detention of migrants is an exceptional measure of last resort, pursuing a legitimate end, permitted by law, and that it is necessary and proportionate, and applied for the shortest possible period of time; (ii) The grounds for detention are specified in each case, with specific reasons why alternative measures cannot be implemented; (iv) In line with its human rights obligations, alternative measures to detention are considered and made use of before imposing detention measures. The
Committee recognizes alternatives to detention as being all community-based care measures or non-custodial accommodation solutions – in law, policy or practice – that are less restrictive than detention and which must be considered in the context of lawful detention decision procedures to ensure that detention is necessary and proportionate in all cases, with the aim of respecting the human rights and avoiding the arbitrary detention of migrants, asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons; (d) Ensure that alternative measures to detention are applied to asylum seekers and refugees, and in all cases of voluntary return, and that migrant workers and members of their families are informed of their rights and about procedures in the detention context in a language they understand; (e) Strictly separate detention regimes from “voluntary” placement in shelters, including in statutory law, and provide for State-run or community-run shelters, which are physically separated from an immigration detention centre and are not situated on the same premises; (45) (a) Ensure that migrants are detained only in facilities officially designated
for this purpose;
2025
2025
2025
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Situation of non-citizens, including migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers and stateless persons
25...While noting the information provided by the delegation of the State party that the Immigration Restriction (Commonwealth Citizens) Act and the Aliens Act are currently under review, the Committee shares the concerns expressed by the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families10 that these acts, and the Deportation (Commonwealth Citizens) Act, criminalize irregular immigration
(art. 5).
26...The Committee recommends that the State party adopt all measures necessary to decriminalize irregular immigration, including by repealing or amending the Immigration Restriction (Commonwealth Citizens) Act, the Aliens Act, and the Deportation (Commonwealth Citizens) Act. The Committee draws the State party’s attention to the recommendation made on this matter by the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families in 2017.11
2022
2022
2022
Committee on Migrant Workers
§ 37. The Committee recommends that the State party ensure that its national laws, policies and practices adequately respect the right to liberty and the prohibition of arbitrary detention of migrant workers and members of their families, and in particular that it:
(a) Amend the Aliens Act to include, as a priority response to irregular migration, alternatives to detention for migration-related administrative infractions and measures to ensure that detention is used only as an exceptional measure of last resort, in line with the Committee’s general comment No. 2 (2013) on the rights of migrant workers in an irregular situation and members of their families;
(b) Ensure due process in all detention procedures within the State party’s jurisdiction, including in international waters;
(c) Ensure that family members and children are not detained on the basis of their immigration status or, in the case of children, their parents’ status and adopt alternatives to detention that allow children to remain with family members and/or guardians;
(d) Decriminalize irregular migration and ensure that migrant workers and members of their families have access to legal aid, effective remedies, justice and consular services, and that the guarantees enshrined in the Convention are upheld, in full compliance with articles 16 and 17 of the Convention;
(e) Provide information on the number of migrant workers arrested, detained and expelled for immigration-related infractions, the reasons for their detention and expulsion and their detention conditions, including the length of detention.
2017
2017
2017