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. […]
Asia-Pacific
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. […]
Thailand: Joint Submission to the Universal Periodic Review
Despite legal safeguards and stated commitments to protect migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers—including those in detention—Thailand’s treatment of these groups continues to fall short of international standards. Together with our partner, the Cross Cultural Foundation, we raised multiple concerns with the Universal Periodic Review’s Working Group, urging critical reforms to the country’s detention policies and practices and broader compliance with its international human rights obligations. […]
Thailand: Detention and Coerced Returns of Vietnamese Refugees and Asylum Seekers
Thailand has ramped up the detention of Vietnamese migrants with reports indicating that Vietnamese officials have been given access to Thai detention facilities to coerce detainees to return. These practices, alongside high-profile cases of extradition and arbitrary detention of asylum seekers, reveal persistent breaches of human rights norms despite the fact that Thailand remains a UN Network on Migration “champion country” for implementation of the Global Compact for Migration. […]
Australia: UN Experts Raise Serious Concerns Regarding Country’s Migrant Detention System
In December, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention delivered a sobering assessment of Australia’s immigration detention system, highlighting numerous policies that call into question the country’s adherence to international human rights obligations. […]
Malaysia: Joint Submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
Together with the Malaysia-based North South Initiative (NSI) and Myanmar Ethnics Organization (MEO), the GDP has urged the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to demand that Malaysia immediately stop detaining child refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants for migration-related reasons. […]
Uzbekistan: Cooperation with EU and US Raises Questions about Human Rights Obligations
Uzbekistan’s immigration laws and practices have received little international attention. However, new arrangements with both the European Union and the United States are raising questions about the country’s commitments to its human rights obligations. […]
Immigration Detention in Taiwan: Detention “Shelters,” International Isolation, Growing Migration Pressures
December 2024: Immigration detention is an important tool of immigration control in Taiwan, where detainee numbers have steadily risen in recent years. Although conditions in Taiwan’s detention centres have frequently been criticised, they have received little international scrutiny because of China’s opposition to Taiwan’s UN membership. Taiwan also lacks an asylum system, though the need […]
Pakistan: UNHCR and IOM Report Massive Spike in Detention Rates
Pakistan is one of the world’s largest refugee-hosting countries, with the majority of refugees coming from Afghanistan. The country has not implemented a national asylum system and it is not a party to the UN Refugee Convention. There have been numerous reports of refugees being arrested during raids, arbitrarily detained, and summarily deported. In 2023, […]
Immigration Detention in Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China): Severe Detention Regimes and Paltry Conditions
Detention is a key immigration enforcement measure in Hong Kong, despite the fact that detention facilities have long been criticised for poor conditions and complaints of mistreatment. […]
