Michael Flynn is the Executive Director of the Global Detention Project based in Geneva, Switzerland. He is coauthor (with Izabella Majcher and Mariette Grange) of Immigration Detention in the European Union: In the Shadow of the “Crisis” (Springer 2020); and coeditor (with Matthew Flynn) of Challenging Immigration Detention: Academics, Activists, and Policymakers (Edward Elgar 2017). Flynn previously worked […]
Global Detention Project Staff

Rachael Reilly, Senior Advocacy Coordinator
Rachael Reilly, the Global Detention Project’s Senior Advocacy Coordinator, is a committed refugee and migrant rights expert with more than 30 years of experience in global refugee, migration, and human rights advocacy and policy. She was the founding Refugee Policy Director at Human Rights Watch and set up the organisation’s refugee programme. As Geneva Representative […]

Katie Welsford, Communications Officer
Katie Welsford, Communications Officer at the Global Detention Project, has a background in not-for-profit communications and journalism and specialises in conflict and displacement. She previously worked for the AMAR International Charitable Foundation, overseeing all digital communications and campaigns which focussed in particular upon the IDP crisis in Northern Iraq. Prior to this, Katie worked as […]

Abdul Aziz Muhamat, Research & Advocacy Fellow
Abdul Aziz Muhamat, Martin Ennals Award Laureate for Human Rights Defenders (2019) and former UN fellow at OHCHR and ISHR, is a Fellow at the Global Detention Project. An advocate for the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants in detention, community detention, and post resettlement, Aziz began his advocacy work while a detainee inside […]

Anne-Rachelle Boulanger, Research Fellow
Anne–Rachelle Boulanger is a lawyer specialising in forced migration and international human rights based in Toronto, Canada. She holds an LLM from the University of Cambridge, a JD and MA from the University of Toronto, and a BA in International Development from McGill University. She has been an advocate for the rights of refugees and […]

Mariette Grange, Adviser
Mariette Grange served as Senior Researcher at the Global Detention Project during 2010-2019. She currently serves as an external adviser to the GDP team. Ms. Grange’s track record includes co-establishing the Amnesty International office to the United Nations in Geneva and providing leadership to Human Rights Watch during the institution-building years of the Human Rights […]

Alan Zard, Website Consultant
Alan Zard manages the GDP’s website and oversees website and database development projects. He has been building websites and web-based software for many years, working with non-profit organisations of varying sizes across the world. Full-stack-born, he enjoys being involved in the full scope of projects–from server setups to final UX tweaks and bug-hunting. […]

Former interns, researchers, and consultants
We are extremely grateful to the students, interns, and research fellows who have generously given their time and energy to the GDP. Many thanks to: Bassiar Ali, Romane Auzou, Reta Barfuss, Emily Baxter, Patrcia Bilbao, Inga Boecker, Cecilia Cannon, Theo Coonen, Caroline Dalton, Killian Patrick Dorier, Jaqueline Douniama, Lucie Fabiano, Guillaume Ferrier Llamas, Christina Fialho, […]