Despite decades of reports documenting concerns about the operation and impact of its detention system, the UK is currently seeking to massively expand its immigration detention capacity. A recent report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons highlights serious shortcomings in the treatment of female immigration detainees across the country. Detention Capacity Expansion Plans The UK […]
Argentina’s Evolution on Migration: From Inherent Right to Inherent Threat
Argentina, like much of South America, has historically not employed detention as an immigration enforcement tool and has recognised migration as a fundamental right. In recent years, however, the country has shifted towards a more restrictive approach. Under the populist firebrand President Javier Milei, this shift has accelerated considerably, including by amending the country’s legal framework to emphasise national security, encouraging Argentinians to report “illegal immigrants,” and issuing controversial decrees boosting the country’s detention and deportation powers. […]
Trinidad and Tobago: Submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child
Trinidad and Tobago has a long track record placing children and families in immigration detention, including children fleeing nearby Venezuela, and the country has no legal provision prohibiting the detention of children and their families. Although not detained in the country’s sole dedicated immigration detention centre in Aripo, child migrants and refugees and their families […]
Tajikistan: Joint Submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
In partnership with the International Legal Initiative (ILI), the GDP has submitted information to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) highlighting the country’s detention and deportation of child refugees and asylum seekers. This submission was prepared ahead of the CRC’s upcoming 101st session, due to be held in August-September 2026. […]
India: Joint Submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
For years, India has served as an important destination for asylum seekers and refugees from neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. However, under the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) there has been a marked increase in xenophobic attitudes and policies; a securitised approach to immigration enforcement; and intensified detention and deportation operations targeting specific groups like Rohingya refugees and persons perceived to be Bangladeshi, especially Bengali-speaking Muslims. […]
Kuwait: Joint Submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
In a submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the GDP and the Migrant Rights Research Open Repository (MRRORS) direct the Committee’s attention to Kuwait’s detention and removal of migrants on immigration status related grounds. The submission examines how immigration enforcement practices—including detention, deportation, and restrictions linked to residency status—affect migrant […]
Lithuania: Joint Submission to the Universal Periodic Review
Together with our partner in Lithuania, the Human Rights Monitoring Institute (HRMI), the GDP submitted a joint report to the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) examining Lithuania’s immigration detention laws and policies. Highlighting Lithuania’s failure to implement key recommendations it accepted during the third cycle of the UPR in 2022, the report documents ongoing concerns […]
Sierra Leone: Reports of Detention, But Limited Oversight or Access
Since May, Sierra Leone has received two groups of third country nationals, deported from the United States under an agreement between the two countries, adding yet another to the growing list of third country deportation schemes orchestrated by the Trump administration. While government representatives in Freetown have described deportees being “checked into their hosting facilities,” […]
The Netherlands: Pushing for the Criminalisation of Irregular Status
Despite recent setbacks in passing migration and asylum reforms, Dutch authorities are now seeking to pass standalone legislation to make irregular stay a criminal offence. The proposed measure has been widely criticised as incompatible with international human rights standards. Set against a backdrop of stricter family reunification rules, expanded return measures, a newly introduced two-tier asylum system, and persistent concerns surrounding detention conditions and regimes, the effort is part of the country’s increasingly restrictive approach to migration. […]
Webinar: “Immigration Detention: From Global Trends to Bosnia and Herzegovina”
On 23 June, the GDP was invited to speak at a Collective Aid webinar, “Immigration Detention: From Global Trends to Bosnia and Herzegovina.” Presenting their latest research report examining conditions within Bosnia and Herzegovina‘s Lukavica Detention Centre, Collective Aid’s Advocacy Manager Anna Gruber highlighted serious deficiencies in the centre, including degrading living conditions, a near-total […]
