Uganda’s important role in hosting refugees recently received global attention after it agreed to a deal with the United States to accept deported third-country nationals who have pending asylum claims in the United States. While this agreement has raised concerns about Uganda’s commitments to uphold its human rights and humanitarian commitments, it nevertheless follows a pattern of adopting increasingly restrictive policies and practices in recent years, undermining Uganda’s long-held reputation as a welcoming country. […]
Mauritania: Submission to the UN Committee on Migrant Workers
Over the past two decades, efforts to detain and remove migrants in Mauritania have intensified in response to mounting pressure from European countries to curb migration flows. In a submission to the UN Committee on Migrant Workers, the GDP highlights how Mauritania’s immigration detention and deportation policies and practices contravene key provisions of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. […]
Albania: Submission to the UN Committee on Migrant Workers
In a submission to the UN Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW) ahead of its adoption of its List of Issues Prior to Reporting during its 41st session, the Global Detention Project addressed concerns about the country’s migration-related detention policies and practices, including its collaboration with Italy in detaining third-country migrants deported by its neighbour. […]
France: UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Finds Country Responsible for Grave and Systematic Violations of the Rights of Unaccompanied Migrant Children
An investigation undertaken by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has concluded that France is committing “grave and systematic violations” of the rights of unaccompanied migrant children. In particular, it notes that flawed age assessment procedures are resulting in children being left homeless on the streets where they are exposed to violence and abuse, and that the detention of unaccompanied minors at Paris Charles de Gaulle is “disproportionate and therefore arbitrary.” […]
Tunisia: Submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Since 2023, Tunisia has adopted a particularly hardline approach to migration, and observers have documented a surge in violence against African migrants including raids, arbitrary arrests, detentions, and mass deportations to the borders with Algeria and Libya. These practices have coincided with growing European support for the country’s border control and migration “management.” In a joint submission with FTDES, the GDP highlights concerns to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. […]
Ghana: Detention and Secret Expulsions Raise Alarm Over Role in U.S Deportation Scheme
In September, Reuters reported that Ghana had agreed to accept West African nationals deported from the United States under a new agreement between the two countries–marking yet another expansion of the Trump Administration’s unprecedented efforts to summarily deport irregular migrants to third countries. Shortly after their arrival in Ghana, the deportees were reportedly expelled to Togo. Ghana was previously accused, in 2023, of unlawfully expelling refugees from Burkina Faso, undermining Ghana’s commitment to international legal standards. […]
Israel: Submission to the UN Committee against Torture
In a joint submission with the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, the GDP has raised concerns with the UN Committee against Torture over Israel’s detention laws and practices, highlighting new and proposed legislation permitting indefinite detention and deportations in violation of the principle of non-refoulement, the detention of vulnerable groups, inadequate protections for non-nationals during the Iran-Israel war, and the failure to support migrant victims of the 7 October Hamas attack. […]
Albania: Submission to the UN Committee against Torture
Albania operates a single dedicated immigration detention facility, the Karreç Detention Centre. In a submission to the UN Committee against Torture, the GDP raised concerns regarding conditions in the facility, as well as reports of the use of ad hoc detention sites and the country’s facilitation of Italian-managed detention centres on its territory. […]
Niger: Joint Submission to the Universal Periodic Review
Since the 2023 coup, Niger’s migration landscape has changed dramatically, with new legislation tightening entry, stay, and movement, criminalising irregular migration, and granting broad powers to enforcement officers. In a joint submission to the UPR, the GDP, JMED Niger, and REMIDDH raise concerns over arbitrary and harmful detention, poor conditions, and abuse of migrants, urging Niger to amend its policies to ensure detention is used only as a last resort and in line with international human rights standards. […]
Belarus: Using the Separation of Mothers from Their Children as a Migration Enforcement Strategy
On 7 August, Belarusian authorities expelled a young Guinean mother while her young baby remained in Belarus. Reportedly, the mother was removed without due process–including the ability to challenge her separation from her child. UN experts have condemned the incident, which reflects a broader pattern in Belarus of using parental separation from children for both immigration and political reasons. […]
