Open Letter Calling for Canada to Stop the Use of Provincial Jails for Immigration Detention

The GDP has joined 39 Canadian and international organisations in an open letter calling on Canadian authorities to cease detaining migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers in provincial jails. As the GDP has previously documented, Canada has regularly attracted criticism for its persistent use of jails for immigration detention – and in particular, for its placement […]

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Submission to the Committee against Torture: Guatemala

The GDP welcomes the opportunity to provide information relevant to the list of issues prior to the presentation of Guatemala’s report with respect to the implementation of the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Convention against Torture), ratified by Guatemala in 1990. […]

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Immigration Detention in Canada: Progressive Reforms and Missed Opportunities

In recent years, Canada has adopted both progressive refugee policies and restrictive border control measures, including agreeing to accept more refugees than other countries while at the same time adopting policies that restrict asylum eligibility. Canada’s immigration detention system has also continued to attract criticism, particularly because of its persistent use of prisons for immigration purposes, the carceral environments of its dedicated immigration detention centres, and its failure to adopt a maximum time limit for immigration detention, leaving some detainees facing indefinite detention. […]

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NEWSLETTER: Immigration Detention Laws and Practices in Mexico; Lengthy Detention Stays for Asylum Seekers in New Zealand

LATEST PUBLICATIONS Immigration Detention in Mexico: Between the United States and Central America Mexico has one of the largest immigration detention systems in the world, employing several dozen detention centres—euphemistically called estaciones migratorias—and detaining tens of thousands of people every year. Intense pressure from the United States and continuing migration from turmoil-wracked Central America have helped drive […]

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NEWSLETTER: 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 […]

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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 […]

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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. […]

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