On 20 April 2022, 528 Rohingya refugees–including 97 women, 294 men, and 137 children–escaped from the Relau detention centre in Sungai Bakap. According to a new local news agency, immediately before the escape there had been a “riot” at the detention centre. Most of the detainees were quickly re-detained, though seven–including three children–died while trying […]
Asia-Pacific
“AND SO ADVOCACY BECAME HEALING”: A GDP Q&A with Abdul Aziz Muhamat
Abdul Aziz Muhamat languished in detention on Manus Island for nearly six years, but throughout that time he was an indefatigable advocate for those trapped in Australia’s offshore detention system. Today, Aziz lives in Switzerland, where he was granted asylum after receiving Geneva’s prestigious Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders in 2019. The GDP spoke to Aziz about his experiences, challenges he sees in making advocacy more effective, and his plans for the future. […]
UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW: Immigration Detention in India, Morocco, Poland, South Africa
In March, the GDP worked with partners in four countries—Poland, India, South Africa, and Morocco—to prepare submissions for the 41st Session of the Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review (UPR). […]
INDIA: Joint Submission to the Universal Periodic Review
The GDP’s submission on India, made in partnership with the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), highlights human rights concerns within India’s immigration detention system, including lack of judicial review and indefinite detention, lack of legal aid for detainees, and poor detention conditions. […]
Turning Arbitrary Detention into a Global Brand
Deplorable migration detention practices abound across the globe; Australia, however, brings together a range of extreme policies, provides them blanket legal cover, aggressively defends them in the face of growing international opprobrium, and spreads them to countries near and far. […]
Immigration Detention in Australia: Turning Arbitrary Detention into a Global Brand
Australia’s migration detention system is uniquely severe, arbitrary, and punitive. It includes a range of extreme and controversial policies–mandatory, indefinite, offshore, fully privatised detention–which are given blanket legal cover, are vigorously defended in the face of growing global opprobrium, and are spreading to countries near and far. […]
Maldives: Covid-19 and Detention
The Maldives relies heavily on a migrant labour force, many of whom are undocumented. Estimates vary widely, from 145,000 to over 230,000 migrant workers present in the country. According to an April 2020 UN report on the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 on the Maldives, the country has the largest proportion of migrant workers in South […]
Thailand: Covid-19 and Detention
As of 30 November 2021, Thailand had registered more than two million cases of COVID-19 and more than 20,000 related deaths. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) reported that in September 2021, there were a total of 28,810 cases among migrants from Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and Myanmar (CLM) in the country. The number […]
Externalisation, Immigration Detention, and the Committee on Migrant Workers
Detention has long played a key role in efforts to externalise immigration and asylum procedures. However, an unexpected development has resulted: The most poorly ratified international human rights treaty, the Migrant Workers Convention, has turned into a critical forum for advocating for the protection of the fundamental rights of migrants and refugees ensnared in offshore control regimes. […]
Australia: Covid-19 and Detention
On 18 October 2021, refugees and asylum seekers detained at Melbourne’s Park Hotel held a protest against their detention at the hotel during a COVID-19 outbreak. The detained decried their shared sleeping quarters, cramped eating and recreation spaces, and the fact that many of them are medically vulnerable. Three positive cases had been confirmed and […]
