Despite its reliance on foreign labour, Singapore continues to restrict migrant workers’ rights. During the COVID-19 crisis, residents of migrant worker dormitories have suffered disproportionately, with thousands locked up in substandard and unsanitary conditions. […]
Bangladesh Immigration Detention Data Profile (2020)
Bangladesh Detention Data (2020) The latest detention-related data from Bangladesh, including immigration and detention-related statistics, domestic laws and policies, international law, and institutional indicators. View the Bangladesh Detention Data Profile Related Reading: Bangladesh: Country Page Bangladesh: COVID-19 Updates News: Places of Quarantine as Places of Detention […]

Joint Submission to the Committee on Migrant Workers: Morocco
Despite announcing a new “humanitarian approach” to migration and asylum affairs in 2013, many migrants and asylum seekers continue to face harsh treatment, including arbitrary arrest, forced displacement, detention, and deportation. […]

Immigration Detention in Germany: From Open Arms to Public Backlash
During the height of Europe’s migration “crisis,” Germany was one of the few EU countries to openly embrace assisting refugees, registering more than a million arrivals in less than two years. However, this stance spurred a public backlash, which led to the adoption of a host of restrictive measures, including policies intended to increase removals, limit family reunifications, and expand the range of facilities that can be used to detain migrants. […]

Belize Immigration Detention Data Profile (2020)
Belize Detention Data (2020) The latest detention-related data from Belize, including immigration and detention-related statistics, domestic laws and policies, international law, and institutional indicators. View the Belize Detention Data Profile Related Reading: Belize: Country Page Report: Immigration Detention in Belize (2016) Submission to the UN Committee on Migrant Workers: Issues Regarding Immigration Detention in Mauritania […]

Syria Immigration Detention Data Profile (2020)
Syria Detention Data (2020) The latest detention-related data from Syria, including immigration and detention-related statistics, domestic laws and policies, international law, and institutional indicators. View the Syria Detention Data Profile Related Reading: Immigration Detention in Lebanon: Deprivation of Liberty at the Frontiers of Global Conflict Syria: Country Page Syria: Relevant International Law […]

Immigration Detention in Algeria: Pandemic Pushbacks
Reports from international organisations and other observers indicate that Algeria has, during the past decade, employed increasingly punitive methods to limit the entry and stay of refugees, asylum seekers, and undocumented migrants. Sometimes under threat of violence, tens of thousands of people—including women and children—have been forcibly deported in desert areas bordering Mali and Niger. […]

Submission to the UN Committee against Torture: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Conditions within detention and reception facilities in Bosnia and Herzegvonia have long been a matter of concern for rights observers – and the Covid-19 crisis has only exacerbated these. In this submission to the UN Committee against Torture, the GDP highlights areas of concern and urges the committee to address various priorities prior to the presentation of BiH’s report. […]

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 these facilities, going so far as to refuse the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention entry during its visit to the country in 2018. […]

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 long-term 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 abusive. The Covid-19 crisis, which shut down deportation flights, provided a final push. But enormous questions remain. […]

Immigration Detention in Argentina: A Paradigm Shift?
Argentina, like its South American neighbours, has long de-emphasised detention and deportation in its immigration policies. However, in 2015 its posture changed dramatically after a conservative government took office, which pushed through several restrictive policy reforms and announced the opening of the country’s first specialised immigration detention centre. A new administration that took office in […]

Immigration Detention in Belgium: Covid-19 Puts the Brakes on an Expanding Detention System
Belgium has adopted increasingly hardening immigration and asylum policies, including an expansion of its detention system. But the Covid-19 crisis has spurred the country to temporarily reduce its immigration detention capacity by half, to some 300 beds, while the Immigration Office has temporarily halted the registration of new asylum seekers. In 2017, the government back-peddled on an earlier commitment to stop detaining children when it opened new “family units” inside detention centres. […]

Immigration Detention in Tunisia: Shrouded in Secrecy
Foreigners in Tunisia, particularly those from sub-Saharan Africa, face endemic racism, little or no possibility of seeking asylum because the country has yet to adopt a refugee protection regime, and pushbacks into Libya and Algeria. There is little transparency with respect to detention conditions of migrants and refugees or their treatment in border regions. Although the country had begun implementing measures in March 2020 to safeguard staff and inmates at the country’s prisons in response to the Covid-19 crisis, no such measures appear to have been taken with respect to people detained for immigration reasons. […]

Immigration Detention in the Netherlands: Prioritising Returns in Europe and the Caribbean
The Netherlands places increasing numbers of foreigners—including asylum seekers, families, and children—in detention. The country’s Caribbean territories—specifically, Aruba and Curaçao—have also ramped up their removal efforts in recent years as thousands of Venezuelans have sought refuge on the islands. […]

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. Although the government does not provide adequate data about immigration detention, making it challenging to assess trends in the country, observers have reported that in recent years this crackdown has grown in scale and intensity. Children, victims of trafficking, and other vulnerable groups can be subjected to indefinite detention, often in facilities where detainees have reported instances of abuse; asylum seekers can find themselves stranded for months in privately operated airport “holding areas”; and national and international human rights bodies have repeatedly called for reforms in the country’s immigration detention centres. […]

Immigration Detention in Austria: Where the Refugee “Crisis” Never Ends
Austria’s domestic politics have long been overshadowed by a divisive and bitter public debate over the treatment of migrants and refugees. This has had an important impact on the country’s detention practices. Despite years of declining detainee numbers prior to the onset of Europe’s short-lived refugee “crisis,” the increase in asylum applications that the country experienced during 2015-2016 became a cause célèbre for resurgent xenophobic political forces, who used the issue to rally support for numerous controversial policies and agendas. These developments have translated into persistent increases in detention numbers long after the “crisis” ended and asylum applications began to plummet to their lowest levels in years. […]

Mali Immigration Detention Data Profile (2019)
Mali Detention Data (2019) The latest detention-related data from Mali, including immigration and detention-related statistics, domestic laws and policies, international law, and institutional indicators. View the Mali Detention Data Profile Related Reading: Mali: Country Page Mali: International Law […]

Immigration Detention in Romania: With a Little Help from the EU
To pave the way for Romania’s entrance into the Schengen area, the EU has helped finance the county’s efforts to boost border controls and restrict how many people it lets in. Nevertheless, Romania’s treatment of refugees and migrants arguably compares favourably to that of its Visegrad neighbours, like Hungary. Observers point to a number of concerns about conditions in Romania’s immigration detention facilities, including their prison-like regimes, lack of mechanisms to identify vulnerable persons, inadequate medical services, and insufficient provision of legal assistance. […]

Joint Submission to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention: Greece
Joint Submission to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in Preparation for its Mission to Greece in December 2019 The Global Detention Project (GDP) and the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) are pleased to provide the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) the following submission in preparation for its visit to Greece in December 2019. […]

Italy: Complicit in Grave Human Rights Abuse?
Immigration Detention in Italy (2019 Report): An important European destination for asylum seekers and migrants crossing the Mediterranean from Africa, Italy has been an aggressive proponent of draconian migration control practices, spurring accusations that the country has been complicit in grave human rights violations. During the tenure of notorious former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, Italy […]

Joint Submission to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture: North Macedonia
The GDP and MYLA are pleased to provide the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) the following submission in preparation for its visit to North Macedonia in 2019. The submission concerns detention of migrants and refugees. […]

Submission to the Universal Periodic Review: Libya
Since the beginning of the 2011 civil war in Libya, the country has experienced on-going armed conflict between rival militias and government forces. The resulting lawlessness has enabled armed groups, criminal gangs, smugglers, and traffickers to control much of the flow of migrants, sometimes with the direct backing of Italy and other European countries. As the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recently concluded, “Despite the overwhelming evidence of human rights violations and abuses, Libyan authorities have thus far appeared largely unable or unwilling to put an end to violations and abuses committed against migrants and refugees.” […]

Joint Submission to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention: Qatar
Qatar: Issues Related to Immigration Detention Joint Submission with Migrant-Rights.org to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in Preparation for its Mission to Qatar on 3-14 November 2019 The Global Detention Project (GDP) and Migrant-Rights.org are pleased to provide the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) this joint submission in preparation for the WGAD’s visit […]

Cyprus: Reception Challenges in Europe’s New Gateway
Immigration Detention in Cyprus (2019 Report): 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 have been blocked. With a small […]

Ireland: Can You Detain “Better” Without Detaining More?
Immigration Detention in Ireland (2019 Report): Compared to other EU countries, Ireland does not detain large numbers of migrants and asylum seekers—typically less than a dozen people at any given moment. However, the country’s use of prisons and police stations for immigration purposes has spurred widespread criticism for years. Human rights watchdogs, including from the […]

Immigration Detention in Portugal: Resettling Refugees, Detaining Asylum Seekers
Immigration Detention in Portugal (2019 Report): Unlike most EU states, Portugal has welcomed the arrival of refugees—even after the onset of the “refugee crisis” in 2015—and has announced several ambitious resettlement schemes. On the other hand, Portugal’s detention policies have been the subject of repeated criticism. Asylum seekers lodging applications at ports of entry are systematically […]

Immigration Detention in Malta: “Betraying” European Values?
Immigration Detention in Malta (2019 Report): Malta’s heavy-handed response to irregular maritime arrivals—including refusing to allow rescue ships to dock and assisting Libyan authorities in intercepting asylum boats—has placed the country at the centre of a bitter EU-wide debate concerning search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean. This restrictive approach is also reflected in its detention […]

Immigration Detention in Latvia: Giving “Accommodation” a Whole New Meaning
Immigration Detention in Latvia (2019 Report): Although Latvia does not experience significant migratory pressures, the number of immigration detainees and the average length of detention have steadily increased. In 2017, the country opened a second detention facility, misleadingly called an “accommodation centre.” The law provides for the detention of non-citizens for up to 10 days without […]

Immigration Detention in Lithuania: Detention and Denial Amidst Extreme Population Decline
Immigration Detention in Lithuania (2019 Report): Asylum applications in Lithuania have decreased significantly in the last few years even as entry refusal rates at the country’s borders have skyrocketed, increasing by some 80 percent since 2013. The country’s restrictive asylum legislation, which provides for the detention of asylum seekers, has received criticism from several UN human […]

Immigration Detention in Bulgaria: Fewer Migrants and Refugees, More Fences
Immigration Detention in Bulgaria (2019 Report): Although the number of irregular non-citizens apprehended in Bulgaria has plummeted in recent years, detention remains a key tool in the country’s response to migration and asylum flows. It has also spent some 85 million EUR to construct a fence along its border with Turkey. Bulgaria’s detention centres reportedly lack […]

Immigration Detention in Croatia: Shrinking Space for Independent Monitoring
Immigration Detention in Croatia (2019 Report): Traditionally a transit country for people attempting to reach Western Europe, Croatia took on new importance for refugees and migrants in late 2015 when the main migrant route shifted through the country. Since then, the government has grown increasingly security-focused, albeit while maintaining a humanitarian narrative. Non-citizens may be […]

Immigration Detention in Niger: Expanding the EU-Financed Zone of Suffering Through “Penal Humanitarianism”?
Immigration Detention in Niger (2019 Report): Niger has been a principal migration hub for people criss-crossing the Sahel region of Africa for generations. It has also served as an important transit country for migrants and asylum seekers on the Central Mediterranean route through Libya to Europe. More recently, the country has begun receiving third-country nationals who […]

Immigration Detention in Slovenia: Where They Call Detention a “Limitation of Movement”
Immigration Detention in Slovenia (2019 Report): A key transit country for refugees and migrants travelling the “Balkan Route,” Slovenia witnessed a significant increase in the number of border crossings during the “refugee crisis.” Citing fears of a “humanitarian catastrophe,” the country tightened immigration controls, erected wire fencing along its border with Croatia, and introduced stringent new […]

Immigration Detention in Slovakia: Punitive Conditions Paid for by the Detainees
Immigration Detention in Slovakia (2019 Report): Since the onset of the “refugee crisis,” Slovakia has pursued restrictive immigration policies and employed anti-migrant rhetoric, despite the fact that the country has not faced the same migratory pressures as its European neighbours. Rarely granting alternatives to detention due to strict eligibility criteria, non-citizens are held in facilities that […]

Immigration Detention in the Czech Republic: “We Will Not Accept Even One More Refugee”
The Czech Republic (Czechia) became an important transit country for asylum seekers attempting to reach Europe during the height of the “refugee crisis.” Like in its Visegrad neighbours, this new-found status spurred a sharp public backlash in the country, which was fed by anti-migrant political rhetoric. The government significantly ramped up the country’s detention capacity […]

Immigration Detention in France: Longer, More Widespread, and Harder to Contest
France has one of Europe’s oldest and more widespread administrative immigration detention regimes, which extends from continental Europe to overseas territories in the Indian Ocean and the Americas. Nearly 47,000 people were placed in detention during 2017, about half of whom were detained in facilities located in the outré-mer. The country has budgeted more than […]

Immigration Detention in Poland: Systematic Family Detention and Lack of Individualised Assessment
Poland has experienced a sharp drop in the numbers of people applying for asylum since 2017. Yet, anti-immigrant rhetoric dominates public discourse, foreigners are viewed as security threats, and pushbacks are common along the border with Belarus. While material conditions in detention centres appear to meet basic standards, Poland rarely considers “alternatives to detention,” systematically […]

Immigration Detention in Egypt: Military Tribunals, Human Rights Abuses, Abysmal Conditions, and EU Partner
Egypt has long been a destination and transit country for refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants from across the Middle East and Africa. Its Mediterranean coast has served as an important staging point for people attempting to reach Europe irregularly. Observers have repeatedly expressed concerns about Egypt’s use of police stations and prisons for immigration detention […]

Immigration Detention in Finland: Limited Use of “Alternatives,” Restrictive Detention Review, Divisive Political Debate
Finland immigration detention […]

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 “refugee crisis,” the country has introduced a series of restrictive immigration control measures and the domestic political environment has become increasingly hostile. Even as the numbers of refugee applicants have steadily fallen, the […]

Immigration Detention in Canada: Important Reforms, Ongoing Concerns
Although Canada has experienced increasing immigration pressures, including receiving in 2017 the highest number of asylum claims in its history, the country has not witnessed the same acrimonious public debate over immigration seen elsewhere. It has adopted important reforms, including the introduction of a National Immigration Detention Framework aimed at improving detention conditions and reducing […]

Immigration Detention in Denmark: Where Officials Celebrate 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 some 70 immigration-related amendments aimed at intensifying restrictions, dramatically cut back its asylum recognition rate, and called for detaining as many failed refugees as possible. Observers have repeatedly criticised the penitentiary-like conditions of Denmark’s main immigration detention […]

Immigration Detention in Luxembourg: Systematic Deprivation of Liberty
Immigration Detention in Luxembourg: Although Luxembourg has a very small immigration detention system, the number of detainees has risen in recent years. Since opening a dedicated detention facility in 2011, observers have noted a general improvement in material conditions. On the other hand, detention appears to be systematically applied as officials regularly conclude that apprehended migrants […]

Joint Submission to the Universal Periodic Review: Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia Joint Submission to the Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council 31st session, November 2018 The Global Detention Project (GDP) is a non-profit research centre based in Geneva, Switzerland, that investigates the use of detention in response to global migration. The GDP’s aims include: (1) providing researchers, advocates, and journalists with a […]

Submission to the Universal Periodic Review: Malaysia
Malaysia Submission to the Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council 31st session, November 2018 The Global Detention Project (GDP) is an independent research centre based in Geneva that investigates the use of detention as a response to international migration. Its objectives are to improve transparency in the treatment of detainees, to encourage […]

Immigration Detention in Norway: Fewer Asylum Seekers but More Deportees
Immigration Detention in Norway: While asylum applications are decreasing in Norway, the number of deportations is rising. Since 2012, when amendments to the Immigration Act were introduced extending the list of grounds for detention, detention has increasingly been used in order to make return policies more efficient. Between 2012 and 2016, the number of people placed […]

Immigration Detention in Lebanon: Deprivation of Liberty at the Frontiers of Global Conflict
Immigration detention in Lebanon: Although Lebanon does not consider itself a country of asylum, it has the world’s highest per-capita concentration of refugees, most of whom have fled conflict in neighbouring Syria. Refugees are increasingly treated as a security threat and economic burden, and they have found themselves under growing surveillance and restrictions. The country is […]

Joint Submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD): United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates Global Detention Project – Migrant-rights.org Joint Submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) 93 Session (31 Jul 2017 – 25 Aug 2017) Geneva, July 2017 The Global Detention Project (GDP) is an independent research centre based in Geneva, Switzerland, that investigates the use of detention as […]

Submission to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR): Australia
Global Detention Project Submission to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) 61st Session (29 May – 23 June 2017) Geneva, May 2017 Issues related to immigration detention The Global Detention Project (GDP) welcomes the opportunity to provide information relevant to the Consideration of the fifth periodic report of Australia (due […]

Submission to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR): Guatemala
Guatemala Global Detention Project Submission to the Universal Periodic Review 28th session of the UPR Working Group, October-November 2017 Submitting organisation The Global Detention Project (GDP) is an independent research centre based in Geneva, which investigates the use of detention as a response to international migration. Its objectives are to improve transparency in the treatment […]

Immigration detention in Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago, one of the wealthiest countries in the Caribbean, has worked to limit unauthorized migration to help boost its tourism appeal. It opened a dedicated immigration detention centre in 2009. The country’s immigration laws also provide criminal penalties for various violations, including six-month prison sentences for re-entry after expulsion. […]

Immigration Detention in the United Kingdom
The UK’s immigration detention system, one of the largest and most heavily scrutinized in Europe, has been the target of numerous lawsuits, investigations, and public demonstrations. While a recent Home Office-commissioned report called for reducing “boldly and without delay” the detention of certain groups of non-citizens, the new Immigration Act 2016 fails to include many […]

Submission to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR): Indonesia
INDONESIA Global Detention Project Submission to the Universal Periodic Review 27th session of the UPR Working Group, April-May 2017 Submitted on 22 September 2016 Submitting organisation The Global Detention Project (GDP) was founded in 2005 at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. In 2014, it was launched as an independent non-profit […]

Submission to the UN Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW): Honduras
Global Detention Project Submission to the UN Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW) 25th Session (29 August – 7 September 2016) Honduras Geneva, August 2016 Issues concerning immigration detention The Global Detention Project (GDP) welcomes the opportunity to provide information relevant to the consideration of the initial report of Honduras (CMW/C/HHND/1 19 May 2016) […]

Submission to the UN Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW): Mexico
Global Detention Project Submission to the UN Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW) 25th Session (29 August – 7 September 2016) List of issues prior to reporting – Mexico Geneva, August 2016 Issues concerning immigration detention The Global Detention Project (GDP) welcomes the opportunity to provide information ahead of submission of the third report of […]

Immigration Detention in 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. But New Zealand has never experienced the type of migratory pressures that these policies are […]

Immigration Detention in Angola
Angola has vigorously pursued a policy of expelling undocumented migrants for “national security” reasons, claiming that there are more than half a million people in the country illegally who are part of a “silent invasion.” The country has opened several dedicated immigration facilities, where thousands of non-nationals are detained every year to await removal, often […]

Immigration Detention in the United States
The United States operates the world’s largest immigration detention system. On any given day, the country has some 30,000 people in administrative immigration detention at an estimated cost of nearly $150 a day. In 2016, the combined budget of enforcement agencies was $19 billion. The country’s sprawling detention estate counts on some 200 facilities, including […]

Immigration Detention in Nauru
Nauru operates a controversial offshore processing centre for Australia that accommodates asylum seeking men, women, and children. The facility, which is part of Australia’s “Pacific Solution,” has been the focus of global condemnation because of the mistreatment of detainees, high profile cases concerning the detention of children, and Australia’s long track record of employing policies […]

Immigration Detention in Thailand
Thailand hosts more than four million migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. Officials have broad discretionary powers to place non-citizens in detention and there is no detention time limit. Severe overcrowding is endemic at detention facilities and conditions are reportedly abysmal, including for the thousands of foreign children who are detained annually. […]

Immigration Detention in Belize
Belize’s immigration detention practices contrast with the policies of neighbouring countries in key ways. In particular, the country provides criminal sanctions for immigration-related infractions and appears to be the only nation in Central America that does not have a dedicated administrative immigration detention facility. […]

Immigration Detention in Nicaragua
One of the poorest countries in the Americas, Nicaragua nevertheless has specific immigration detention laws and policies and maintains a dedicated immigration detention in Managua, which it terms an albergue (or shelter). Asylum seekers can be subject to detention while other vulnerable groups, including children and victims of trafficking, tend to be housed in shelters. […]

Immigration Detention in Panama
An important destination country in Central America, Panama has in recent years overhauled its migration policies in part as a response to a landmark case at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights involving the detention of migrants. Since the case was launched, Panama has adopted a new migration law, decriminalized immigration violations, and established new […]

Immigration Detention in 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 countries of refuge in Latin America, hosting tens of thousands of […]

Using Detention to Talk About the Elephant in the Room
“Using detention to talk about the elephant in the room: the Global Compact for Migration and the significance of its neglect of the UN Migrant Workers Convention” – M. Grange and I. Majcher, International Journal of Law in Context In an article for the International Journal of Law in Context, GDP Advisor Mariette Grange and […]

The Ongoing Business of Strengthening the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies
Joint NGO response to the report of the co-facilitators of the UN GeneralAssembly’s review of the UN human rights treaty body system The GDP has joined more than 150 NGOs around the world to address the co-facilitators of the UN General Assembly’s review of the human rights treaty body system: “We welcome the report containing […]

Human Rights Day 2020: Respecting the Human Rights of All People, Regardless of Their Immigration Status
Today, the international community marks the 72nd anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at a time when the human rights of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers are facing unprecedented challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed countless lives across the globe, but perhaps none more so than those of undocumented migrants and other vulnerable non-citizens. According to […]

International Migrants Day: Global Celebration of Our Rights and Our Struggle for Justice
On International Migrants Day, the Global Detention Project will be participating in an online event organised by Migrant Forum Asia (MFA), Cross Regional Center for Refugees and Migrants, Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism, and the Civil Society Action Committee. The GDP will take part in a panel titled “Detention and Returns: Going Beyond Alternatives.” […]

Immigration Detention in Colombia: At the Crossroads of the Americas
Located at the juncture between South and Central America, Colombia has become an important transit point for migrants and asylum seekers from across the Americas and elsewhere in the world. It is also a key destination for Venezuelans fleeing the turmoil in their country, hosting more than 1.3 million by 2019. During 2010-2014, a national […]

Immigration Detention in Paraguay: The Non-Detention Norm Versus Mandatory COVID Quarantine
While Paraguay’s laws provide for the detention of non-nationals for migration-related reasons, detention appears to be rarely applied. There is little information, however, about how often people are detained or the conditions of their detention. […]

Submission to the UN Committee on Migrant Workers: Draft General Comment No.5 on Migrants’ Right to Liberty and Freedom from Arbitrary Detention
In a submission to the Committee on Migrant Workers ahead of the publication of its Draft General Comment No.5, the GDP has submitted information regarding the General Comment’s treatment of the role of necessity and proportionality in immigration detention decision-making, and in particular the function of ATDs in establishing whether detention is both necessary and proportionate in all cases. […]

Uruguay Immigration Detention Data Profile (2020)
Uruguay Detention Data (2020) The latest detention-related data from Uruguay, including immigration and detention-related statistics, domestic laws and policies, international law, and institutional indicators. View the Uruguay Detention Data Profile Related Reading: Uruguay: Country Page Uruguay: International Law Uruguay: COVID-19 Updates […]

Moldova Immigration Detention Data Profile (2020)
Moldova Detention Data (2020) The latest detention-related data from Moldova, including immigration and detention-related statistics, domestic laws and policies, international law, and institutional indicators. View the Moldova Detention Data Profile Related Reading: Moldova: Country Page Moldova: International Law Moldova: COVID-19 Updates […]

Malaysia Immigration Detention Data Profile (2020)
Malaysia Detention Data (2020) The latest detention-related data from Malaysia, including immigration and detention-related statistics, domestic laws and policies, international law, and institutional indicators. View the Malaysia Detention Data Profile Related Reading: Malaysia: Country Page Submission to the Universal Periodic Review (31st Session, November 2018): Malaysia Staff Publication: Kidnapped, Trafficked, Detained? The Implications of Non-State […]
