In recent weeks, the Global Detention Project has received several testimonies from a group of people held in immigration detention in Sri Lanka, depicting troubling detention conditions and instances of indefinite immigration detention. The accounts of their treatment at the Welisara Detention Centre reflect wider concerns about the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers in the country, including the arbitrary detention of children and asylum seekers. […]
Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants: Mauritania
Amid growing European pressure, Mauritania has increasingly subjected migrants to arbitrary arrest, detention, and forced expulsion—particularly in the past year. Due to limited transparency and the ad hoc nature of these practices, comprehensive data on all detention facilities remains unavailable. Nevertheless, the GDP has documented the use of multiple sites for immigration detention. […]
Lawyers for Human Rights (South Africa): “Numbers We Don’t See And Why They Matter”
“In migration management, numbers are not just statistics; they shape public perception, drive political narratives, and influence government spending. When accurate, they can foster a nuanced understanding of migration and guide evidence-based, humane policy. When inflated or incomplete, they fuel fear. In South Africa, we have a numbers problem: not just in how they are used, but in how they are hidden. ” […]
The GDP Announces Changes to its Executive Committee
The Global Detention Project’s Executive Committee today announces a leadership change, with the appointment of Kirsten Sandberg as the Board’s Interim President, replacing Sahar Okhovat. The former Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Ms. Sandberg joined the GDP’s Executive Committee in 2019. She has been an unwavering source of […]
Suspensions to Asylum Applications and Extending Detention: Greece’s Increasingly Hardline Approach to Migration
Since early 2025, Crete and the nearby island of Gavdos have seen a sharp increase in the number of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants arriving from Libya. The islands have quickly become the newest frontline to Greece’s increasingly hardline approach to migration: in July, the government suspended all asylum claims for anyone arriving irregularly from North Africa for a three-month period. At the same time, a new legislative proposal is being considered which would tighten migration rules in line with the new, but not yet adopted, EU Return Regulation. This would introduce a slate of amendments, including the introduction of broader grounds for detention and an extension of the maximum length of detention. […]
Sudanese Refugees in Egypt: “Voluntary” Returns Amidst Intensified Detention and Deportation Campaign
Egypt has recently returned hundreds of Sudanese nationals as part of a new “voluntary” transportation scheme that is jointly administered by Egypt and Sudan. Although officials describe the initiative in humanitarian terms, the returns–in addition to the hundreds of thousands of additional “voluntary” returns that have been reported since last year–coincide with larger efforts by Egypt to ramp up the targeting of refugees and asylum seekers for detention and deportation. The crackdown is creating a climate of fear amongst refugee communities and has raised questions about whether the returns can be considered “voluntary.” […]
Joint Letter on the Impact of the UN Liquidity Crisis and the UN80 Initiative on Children’s Rights
In a joint letter, more than 100 signatories–including the Global Detention Project–have urged the Permanent Missions to the United Nations in Geneva and New York and the Secretary-General of the UN to ensure that any reforms proposed in the name of efficiency do not weaken the protection and promotion of children’s rights. […]
European Court Ruling Challenges Italy–Albania Detention Deal and Other Externalisation Plans
On 1 August, the European Court of Justice delivered a landmark ruling on Italy’s application of the “safe country of origin” concept, delivering a blow to the country’s offshore asylum processing scheme in Albania. Beyond Italy, the ruling has wider implications across Europe, where it is likely to impact new EU asylum regulations due to come into force in June 2026, as well as EU Member States’ efforts to externalise their own migration management schemes. […]
Morocco: Submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
Migrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking children in Morocco are extremely vulnerable to detention and other harmful immigration enforcement measures despite years of efforts by civil society organisations and human rights monitoring bodies to advocate for reforms. […]
Mexico’s Immigration Policies and Human Rights – Global Detention Project Working Paper No. 26
In this critical examination of Mexico’s history of immigration control, authors Flynn and Ortiz-Gonzalez demonstrate the country’s use of euphemistic language to reframe coercive practices as humanitarian ones, concealing the persistence of punitive migration enforcement and masking its on-going role as a surrogate enforcer of U.S migration control.
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